South Africa will play England in the final of the Rugby World Cup following their 19-16 semifinal victory over Wales on Sunday.

In a game in which the boot dominated, a penalty by man-of-the-match Handre Pollard four minutes from time at International Stadium Yokohama (Nissan Stadium) set up a repeat of the 2007 final, won by the Springboks.

"We were never comfortable at any point" said Pollard.

"Credit to the Welsh, they've got their style of play, they stick to it and they're very good at it. We knew it was coming our way but you've got to handle it. I thought the boys stuck at it."

"Our forwards were great tonight. They got us momentum, they got us a bit of front-foot and they got us penalties. In tight matches, that’s what it's about."

(Handre Pollard)

Related coverage:

Rugby: England down All Blacks to reach World Cup final

Rugby: Eddie Jones makes history with defeat of All Blacks

Rugby: JRFU seeks to retain coach Jamie Joseph after World Cup success

South Africa will take on England next Saturday for the Webb Ellis Cup at the same venue, while Wales will play New Zealand on Friday in Tokyo for third place.

"Congratulations to South Africa, great for them to be in the final, they deserved to win today," said Wales coach Warren Gatland.

"I take my hat off to them, they were very good up front, defended exceptionally well. But I'm really proud of our guys, we never gave up and we got ourselves back into the game. It was a real arm wrestle a really tough encounter."

In contrast to the previous night's high-paced start between England and New Zealand, Sunday's affair never got going.

With a blustery breeze picking up just before kickoff, both sides put boot to ball early on to try and gain some ascendency, and continued to do so for most of the game.

It was not pretty and with the scrums taking an eternity the crowd of 67,750 grew a little restless before a penalty from Pollard in the 15th minute finally gave the South African fans something to cheer about.

Wales were occasionally dangerous with ball in hand and a good move down the left touchline eventually saw the Springboks penalized allowing Dan Biggar to level the scores.

(Dan Biggar)

But with kicks and mistakes dominating, running rugby was a rarity and two penalties from Pollard and one from Biggar saw the teams turn around at 9-6 following a pretty dreadful half of rugby in which the loudest fans at times were Irish singing "Fields of Athenry."

Just eight percent of Wales' ball had been in the Springbok 22, while just five percent of South Africa's possession has been in the Welsh 22.

"We were not happy with the first half," said Springbok captain Siya Kolisi. "We gave away a lot of penalties. So we had a chat at halftime and it's always good to see the guys respond."

The game needed a second-half spark. But initially it got more mistakes, kicking and penalties, resulting in Biggar levelling the scores in the 46th minute for the injury depleted Welsh.

With both coaches going to the bench, things finally opened up.

Damian de Allende, who will play for Panasonic Wild Knights in the new year, finally gave the neutrals in the crowd something to shout about when he used speed and power to cross the chalk in the 57th minute.

(Damian de Allende)

The Welsh response was to camp in the South African 22 for five minutes as they tried to break a resolute green defensive line.

The Springboks were eventually penalized.

Wales opted for the scrum, Josh Adams went over in the corner and Leigh Halfpenny added the extras from out wide to once again bring the sides level.

With the clock running down it looked like extra-time would be played.

But the Welsh wilted under the pressure of the Springbok maul and Pollard stepped up to send South Africa into their third final, having also won in 1995.

"It was nerve-racking at the end and I must say that losing the previous four matches against them it could have gone their way again," said South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus.

"I thought those last few minutes they might pull it through again and I think (there was) a little bit of luck on our side. I'm proud of our guys but also proud to win against a team like Wales because they are really a class outfit."