The World Cup victory that has united the rainbow nation
Pages 82-83
IT was the mention of Nelson Mandela that made siya Kolisi collapse. Having collected his gold medal, lifted the webb Ellis Trophy as south africa’s first black captain, the boy from the township gathered up his children — Nicholas and Keziah — then spoke from the heart.
‘I never dreamt this would happen,’ he said. ‘all I want to do is inspire my kids. when I was a kid, all I was thinking about was getting my next meal.
‘There are a lot of us in south africa who need an opportunity. I got mine and took it.
‘I am hoping we’ve given people hope that can pull our country together.’
Bryan Habana, another springbok world Cup-winning hero, then turned to Kolisi and said: ‘My friend,’ before glancing skywards, ‘I know Madiba (Mandela) is up there in heaven smiling down on you and is incredibly proud.’
with that, Kolisi was gone. He hugged his mate, rested his head on the old winger’s shoulder and let it all sink in for a second.
He admitted before this final that the captaincy has weighed heavily on his shoulders. He is not just a rugby skipper, but an icon, a symbol, a beacon of hope for so many.
Legends lined up to declare the moment he lifted the world Cup on saturday night in Yokohama as bigger than when Francois Pienaar collected it in 1995 from Mandela.
That may be an emotional exaggeration in the immediate aftermath of this glorious night for south africa, but the echoes were there.
President Cyril Ramaphosa wore his No 6 springbok jersey, just like Mandela did 24 years ago — and while that might have been a slightly crude re-enactment of history, it helped to re-inforce the significance of the moment.
Kolisi did not play the whole match. He came off around the hour mark, when it was not completely certain the springboks would win a third world Cup.
so when Cheslin Kolbe — the man too small, in some coaches’ eyes, to play Test rugby — scored the try that emphatically sealed the deal, the captain was sitting on the bench.
well, not for long. as Kolbe broke, he sprung from his seat, ran down the touchline a few yards behind his streaking winger, and as Kolbe went in, hopped, skipped and jumped for joy.
That was it, this was done, he was a world champion.
Back home, south africa went barmy. shopping malls showing the game erupted as thousands burst into Shosholoza — the iconic song of the old miners that echoed around Ellis Park on that day in 1995.
streets were filled with cars hooting horns and, for a moment, all was well with a nation.
‘since I have been alive, I have never seen south africa like this,’ said Kolisi, having had those scenes relayed to him.
‘with all the challenges we have, the coach said to us that we are not playing for ourselves any more, we are playing for the people back home — that is what we wanted to do.
‘we have so many problems in our country, a team like this — we come from different backgrounds, different races — and we came together with one goal.
‘I really hope we have done that for south africa, to show that we can pull together if we want to achieve something.’
The magnitude of south africa’s achievement was the story of this final. England had started at Yokohama stadium as favourites, but by the end of it they were chasing shadows.
somehow, a very good team played very badly when it mattered most. somehow, the side that dismantled the all Blacks were themselves dismantled by south africa.
Or, to put it another way, they were Beasted — as the springboks’ iconic prop, Tendai Mtawarira, led a scrum rout which was the foundation of this astonishing result.
The winning margin was brutally emphatic and in no way was it a distortion. England’s team bus arrived late at the venue, after being stuck in matchday traffic — a logistical howler that should never have happened — but the team didn’t turn up at all.
six days earlier, outgoing wales coach warren Gatland had queried whether Eddie Jones’ players could scale another peak after the effort it took to overwhelm New Zealand. He suggested that England may have played their final a week early and despite a stinging riposte from Jones, the Kiwi had a point.
There was no repeat of the nearperfection which accounted for the reigning champions in the semi-finals. In fact, there was nothing even adequate before half-time. England were in neardisarray. They briefly threatened a revival after the break, but the spell of resistance was fleeting. The better team won. south africa deserved their glory and the frenzy that awaits them at home.
when it came to the crunch, powerful social factors on one side trumped vast resources on the other. England lost Kyle sinckler early and they soon lost their heads, too. There were so many errors as they threw wild passes and kept trying to force the game open, in the face of suffocating pressure. The composure that was supposed to be part of their repertoire vanished.
There were six scrum penalties to the Boks as their pack turned the screw. The Beast and the rest of Rassie Erasmus’ two front-five units took England to the cleaners in the set-piece. There was one penalty the other way after Joe Marler came on, but it was in this area that the Red Rose campaign was fatally undermined.
Jones, who has two years left on his contract, was shell-shocked, and admitted he had no answers to why England lost.
‘It’s not a good day for it to happen,’ he said. ‘we’re going to be kicking stones now for four years and it’s hard to kick stones for four years.
‘Of course, you can have the most investigative debrief of your game and you still don’t know what was wrong. It just happens sometimes.
‘we’re massively disappointed but, at the same time, I’ve got great admiration for what the players did. I can’t tell you how much respect I’ve got for them, how hard they’ve worked, how well they’ve played but we came short today.’
saturday was proof that you can have all the GPs numbers, drone cameras and blueprints you like but sport can still be governed by emotion, by fighting for a higher cause.
Ironically, despite their colourful stories of overcoming adversity — like winger Makazole Mapimpi whose mother, brother and sister have all died — south africa’s rugby can be as dull as anything.
But they had something in