Cornish rugby player Luke Cowan-Dickie was unable to spare England from defeat in the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final, as they lost 32-12 to South Africa in Japan.

The Truro-born former Cornish Pirates player replaced fellow hooker Jamie George with 20 minutes left to play with the score finely poised at 18-12 to South Africa, but two converted tries saw the Springboks stroll to their third world title.

Cowan-Dickie’s fellow Cornishman, Jack Nowell, was left out of the squad for the final.

South Africa took the early lead via Handre Pollard’s penalty before Owen Farrell levelled with one of his own midway through the first half.

Pollard restored the advantage soon after with another kick, only for Farrell to do the same, but Pollard landed two further penalty kicks to give the Springboks a six-point lead at the break.

The South African fly-half extended the lead with another penalty early in the second half before Farrell kicked another to bring England back to within a score’s distance at 9-15.

Farrell narrowly missed another moments later but Pollard saw his next one go over to restore the nine-point advantage, only for Farrell to reply once again almost immediately from the restart.

Cowan-Dickie was introduced on the hour, but the crucial moment came five minutes later when Makazole Mapimpi scored the only try of the game for the Springboks, with Pollard converting to put South Africa 25-12 up.

The match, and England’s hopes of a second world title after their success in 2003, were ended soon after when Cheslin Kolbe went over, with Pollard adding the extras to seal the Springboks’ crown.

Cowan-Dickie played in each of England’s six World cup games, scoring three tries, while Nowell scored one try in his only appearance as a late replacement in the Pool C win over Argentina.