At the end of the evening at the Stade de France, the South African president Thabo Mbeki stood on the winner’s rostrum alongside his country’s captain John Smit. The president and the hooker wrapped an arm around each other and with their other hand, held the Webb Ellis Cup. Behind them, they blew rainbow flags from silver urns and, as it was 12 years ago when the Springboks first won the World Cup, one had a wonderful sense of the new South Africa.

But the 80 minutes that gave the Springboks a victory were, in the rugby sense, a reminder of the old South Africa. The new champions were hard, disciplined, unrelentingly defiant in defence and, in truth, they did what England wanted to do to them. They played the way we were brought up to believe Boks always play. However tough you are, they will be tougher. England, it seemed, encountered a better version of themselves.

When Mike Ford, England’s defence coach, made his first presentation to his squad of players he produced all the statistics in the world to show that defences, not attacks, invariably won the World Cup. South Africa’s victory in the 1995 final was a classic case in point – there were nine scores, but no try. Before last night’s match began, England believed they would win because disciplined defences won finals.

Some don’t know their rugby history well enough, others are perhaps too young to remember, but there is a South African mentality and it is perfectly suited to the needs of World Cup finals. Take the flanker Juan Smith, he’s from Bloemfontein and in all the pictures you see of him, there is rarely a smile. He doesn’t say a lot and if ever he came upon a geyser, he would go telling people he invented hot water.

But, boy, can he tackle. And when he makes one hit, he can’t wait to get up and make another. He doesn’t need to work himself into a frenzy to play like this and so there is no overexcitement. You don’t find him conceding unnecessary penalties.

The South African squad has a Springbok head into which the players are throwing their votes for the squad’s player of the tournament. A lot of them think Smith should get it, but he would prefer it if it went to the captain John Smit.

Smith will return home this week, there will some commotion for a while and then it will die down and nobody will bother him. But if you are wondering why England made such little headway against the Springbok defence last evening, think about Smith and that Bloemfontein mentality.

He had many allies because South Africa had good defenders everywhere. England made just one line break in the match, when Mathew Tait somehow wriggled free of Francois Steyn in midfield and scorched through the defence. For a half a second it looked like he might go all the way, but he was devoured by two covering defenders five yards short of the line. When England then worked the ball left and Jonny Wilkinson produced a delightful overhead flick to send Mark Cueto diving for the corner, the defence was, at last, beaten.

Well, almost. The big No 8 Danie Roussouw was in the vicinity and he tried to sweep Cueto’s legs into touch. It was the one moment in the match when South Africa were reduced to a last-ditch tackle and, in the opinion of the video referee Stuart Dickinson, Roussouw did just enough. For a moment, South Africa rode their luck but for the remaining 37 minutes of the match, they did not give England a glimpse of their try-line.

It was desperately frustrating for England because their lion-hearted forwards dominated the second-half battle and claimed enough possession to win two matches. But against South Africa, possession is not nine-tenths of the law. A great New Zealand, with the then irresistible Jonah Lomu, saw enough of the ball in the 1995 World Cup final but couldn’t breach their defence. That same defiance was much in evidence 12 years on.

There is an interesting statistic about Lomu’s career that helps to explain what we saw at the Stade de France last evening. The great Jonah sprinted and stampeded through defences for fun. Given what he did against England in the 1995 semi-final and subsequently at Twickenham, it suited us to say he was unstoppable. But Lomu was stopped every time by the Springboks. Not one try in all the times he ran at that defence.

How England would have loved to have been in South Africa’s boots in that second half. Having a lead and defending it with skill and guts and bloody-mindedness. It was how England saw themselves winning the final, believed they could shut out Bryan Habana, Steyn, JP Pietersen and all the rest. England’s thunder was stolen by a team playing the English style and playing it more effectively.

England will now feel as France felt last weekend, as Australia felt a fortnight ago. “We had those guys, we just couldn’t put them on the floor,” they will say, trying to console themselves. But it is an illusion, because they weren’t really that close. Australia had its one late kick to turn it round, poor France had its ankle-tap moment and yesterday England that one chance that Cueto almost took. But what does it tell us if there is only real chance to turn the game your way.

It means the other team’s defence was the winner. By a long way. As England had done to others, South Africa did to them. There can be no recriminations and few regrets.