The hearts of the white lions were finally broken in the Stade de France last night. The surging, thrilling revival of the team from nowhere is over, the title is gone.

South Africa succeed England as world champions after a match that was almost savage in its collisions, in which England had more territory and possession, in which the better side won, and which was far more satisfying as an occasion than as a rugby match. As a match, it was arid.

It was the first chilly evening of a warm Parisian autumn and even from up in the northern suburb of Saint Denis you could sense the dismay in the city itself, where even the cautious estimates held that there were 60,000 English followers. I met scores without room or ticket, and met none without hope. They just had to be here, they said. They were everywhere, soaking up the sun and bonhomie. Around the Eiffel Tower in the morning, it was if Paris had fallen to the English.

Two weeks ago it seemed a bonus that England, who had been misfiring horribly, were in the quarter-finals. We said the same about the semi-final and the same yesterday before this supercharged occasion kicked off. Last night, it did not feel like a bonus. It felt like a dream had been rudely shattered and as the mass exit began, the victory of the Springboks hung heavily. Still no team has retained the World Cup.

Yet it was also impossible to detect any sense of hurt or betrayal last night that England had not completed one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sport – from a grim, stuttering group in the build-up and the pool games, to the gleaming power machine that took out Australia and France. People sense that this team, with their obvious strengths and equally obvious weaknesses, gave every shred, showed England rugby and the English in a red rose light.

There was one chance to turn the tide. At the start of the second half, after a break by Mathew Tait, England worked Mark Cueto over in the left-hand corner. Did his foot slide over the touchline before he grounded the ball? Myriad replays suggested it did, but that it was in the air. From the angles available to Stuart Dickinson, the television match official, it seemed that he must award the try. He did not, a decision greeted with a storm of protest from the crowd.

“As long as I live, I will tell people that it was a try,” Cueto said afterwards. Jonny Wilkinson, the England fly-half, said the Boks were worthy winners. “South Africa deserved to win – they’ve been fantastic all tournament,” he said. “We gave it the best we had and at times we got close enough. We didn’t feel we were going to lose.”

Of Cueto’s disallowed effort, Wilkinson said: “It looked okay, but I’m sure the guy making the decision made a good one. Maybe in other games it would have gone our way, but this one didn’t.”

The new champions now face an uncertain future. They were ironclad, mighty and composed, though not a great team. Yet the South African government has decreed that it wants more nonwhite players in the Springbok team in the immediate future. Frankly, this is a decision that suggests that the next South African coach will not be able to pick his strongest team.

The World Cup is over. It has been magnificent. And the title passes from one great rugby nation to another. It’s sport, and life.