The man who gave respect back to Boks

Can you feel it? Finally, the eagerly-awaited Rugby World Cup kicks off today with a game between Russia and hosts Japan, shortly after the opening ceremony in Tokyo.

The feedback from the Springboks, as well as all the other teams arriving in the country ahead of the tournament, has been entirely positive. Everyone has spoken of the hospitality, the big crowds at their training venues and the transport network which seems to be running without many glitches.

Some of the media correspondents have expressed their troubles with the language barrier, but that was to be expected.

The Boks have been waiting for this World Cup for four years after losing to old enemies New Zealand in the semifinals at the 2015 showpiece in England.

However, for two years after the last World Cup, when Allister Coetzee took over from Heyneke Meyer, the expectations were not great, with the Boks losing 57-15 to the All Blacks in Durban and being handed a record 57-0 defeat in Albany.

While the Boks beat Ireland and France during that period, the All Blacks remained the only yardstick, and in that regard they fell dismally short.

When Rassie Erasmus took over from Coetzee in the early stages of the 2018 season the critics were not satisfied, despite the team grabbing a narrow series win over England.

And when the Boks lost to Australia on tour, Erasmus made the bold statement that he would walk away from the job should they be thumped by the All Blacks in Wellington the following week.

To the surprise of most, they shocked their hosts with a 36-34 victory, Erasmus became the flavour of the month and the image of the Bok emblem was restored.

Erasmus’ popularity grew even more when the Boks were unlucky to go down in a 32-30 defeat in a revenge clash against the New Zealanders at Loftus Versfeld.

And the Boks went even further by holding the All Blacks to a 16-16 draw in the Rugby Championship this year, again putting up a fight in Wellington.

Suddenly the All Blacks were forced to realise the Boks were not the walkover side they had been two years earlier, and they could be considered serious World Cup contenders.

Though the Boks won the Championship for the first time in 10 years, it wouldn’t have counted that much to the All Blacks, who won the last two World Cups after the Wallabies lifted the Championship title.

But the World Cup will count.