With Mount Fuji as a fitting backdrop the Springboks surged to the summit of world rugby for the third time when they methodically and ruthlessly plucked England's petals in the Rugby World Cup here yesterday.
This win is a personal triumph for coach Rassie Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi.
The Springboks came into this final as underdogs, partly because of England's rampaging performance against the All Blacks a week ago.
England went from third-rate "maybes" to firm RWC favourites in 80-mostly splendid minutes, but if RWCs have taught us anything it is that a thunderous performance one week can lead to a damp squib the next.
Just ask the All Blacks and England about extreme highs and lows at the tournament.
Yesterday England paid the penalty for an inordinately high error rate and French referee Jérome Garcàs raised his arm in response so much that England's supporters may now feel vindicated leaving the EU.
If the pack wasn't pummelling England, Handre Pollard kept delivering telling blows. Pollard, who went into the semifinals with an unsatisfactory 63% return from the kicking tee, turned it around splendidly against Wales and he continued that form despite missing his first attempt in the final. He converted eight of his 10 attempts at goal. This match is one he should savour.
But the bedrock of this Springbok performance, not just in the final but throughout the tournament, is that of their pack. Coach Erasmus has stuck to his guns, and in this case it was to load his forward ranks with all the heavy artillery imaginable.
WEAR TEAMS DOWN
The Boks have gone about their business with a six/two split on their bench which means they could wear teams down. Let the first pack empty their tanks, and take all but the perpetually moving and impacting Pieter-Steph du Toit and the ruggedly destructive Duane Vermeulen for 80 minutes.
It is a simple plan, everyone can see it coming but very little can be done to stop it. Even when the Boks lost hooker Bongi Mbonambi and Lood de Jager to injury in the 22nd minute in the same England attack, they absorbed that and simply sailed on.
The Boks have gone about their business with a six/two split on their bench which means they could wear teams down
By then Tendai Mtawarira was using replacement prop Dan Coles as if he were on a sushi chef's cutting board. Coles was on after starting tighthead Kyle Sinckler was knocked out in a third-minute collision with teammate Courtney Lawes.
Even when Mtawarira and Frans Malherbe were withdrawn from battle the Bok pressure didn't relent. Vincent Koch and Steven Kitshoff ran on and went straight into their first scrum and duly drew a penalty.
Only after the Boks earned six scrum penalties could England respond with one of their own.
England were not allowed to give their chariot the momentum it had a week ago. It was stopped dead in its tracks by a belligerent Springboks defence that simply refused to yield.
Between minutes 30 and 33 England laid siege to the Bok tryline but could not get through. You sensed it broke their resolve.
The match started with England's fans, who probably outnumbered the South Africans tenfold, in full voice delivering Swing low, sweet chariot. They were like monks for the bulk of the match as the Bok pack set about the England pack's destruction.
Pollard with six penalties had helped establish a buffer before the issue was put beyond doubt when left wing Makazole Mapimpi became the first Springbok try scorer in a RWC final when he dotted down in the 67th minute.
NIRVANA
Cheslin Kolbe put the icing on the cake when he scored the Springboks' second try in the 74th minute. It was nirvana for the heavily outnumbered Bok fans.
Ever the strategist, Erasmus is already plotting his next battle.
"When I took over two years or 18 months ago it was 618 days to the World Cup and we planned to win it. It is now 614 days to the British and Irish Lions and we will start planning now. Lose the first Test and people forget about the World Cup."
He can be proud. His team lost their defence coach before the tournament, they endured an earthquake and horrible Hagibis blew through these parts. They are unbowed and unmoved. They are champions of the world.
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