South Africa rugby can (somewhat) breathe a sigh of relief after the Rugby World Cup trophy was mercifully left behind by burglars who broke into the federation's HQ in Cape Town earlier this week.
South African crime reporter Yusuf Abramjee brought the case to the public's attention when he shared CCTV footage of the break-in on Twitter earlier this week - and it shows the burglars contemplating a swipe at the Webb Ellis Cup before leaving it behind.
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Burglars break in at South Africa rugby HQ - leave World Cup trophy behind
The break-in occurred at SA Rugby's hilltop office on Uys Krige Drive in Cape Town, where their replica Webb Ellis Cup trophies are stored.
CCTV footage captured Monday's break-in, and showed the culprits raiding various partitioned offices in a hunt for goods. After they exit one office, they find the recently-won World Cup trophy on a nearby countertop.
One of the burglars takes a moment to admire the trophy and briefly picks it up, before leaving it behind in favour of ransacking the cabinets behind it.
The incident can be seen at 1:45 in the first video in the below tweet.
Here is footage of the burglary. https://t.co/6aOLd4VwHx pic.twitter.com/XjDADMTcfL
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) November 14, 2023
Ultimately, five signed South Africa jerseys and a collection of laptops were the burglars' stolen goods from their raid, with the Webb Ellis Cup mercifully left behind, per a South Africa Rugby Union spokesperson.
The Springboks became the first country in history to win the World Cup for a fourth time after a dramatic victory over New Zealand in the final last month in Paris.
Their victory came after an equally dramatic fight through the tournament, which saw an all-time classic pool stage encounter with Ireland, and one point wins in the quarter- and semi-finals against France and England respectively.
New Zealand's defeat in the final has been controversial, with several refereeing decisions called into question in the days and weeks since the decider.
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