Boks’ win led by black captain ‘bigger than the Mandela moment’
FRANCOIS PIENAAR believes Siya Kolisi’s World Cup-winning exploits as South Africa’s first black captain are “bigger” for post-apartheid reparations than his own famous celebration with Nelson Mandela in 1995.
The unifying moment when Mandela handed Pienaar the Webb Ellis trophy after the Springboks’ 15-12 victory over New Zealand remains one of sport’s most enduring images.
However, the 52-year-old, of Afrikaner origin, says the sight of Kolisi, a black captain who has overcome abject childhood poverty, is of even more significance in healing his still-fractured nation.
For the first time, Pienaar believes all races are willing to bear the Springbok badge – a symbol previously reviled by non-whites as it was so strongly identified with the apartheid era.
“This is bigger [than 1995]”, Pienaar said, because “all races would have woken up wearing green, which wouldn’t have happened in my time”.
“It’s evolved from my time,” he added. “We had an incredible moment with Mr Mandela but just the support from the nation for this team and captain … he’s changed the game.”
Images of Kolisi, 28, lifting the trophy after England were humbled 32-12 were compared with Mandela wearing Pienaar’s number 6 jersey when the nation first won in 1995.
Kolisi, who also wore number 6, was born one day before the repeal of apartheid, to teenage parents in the township of Zwide, just outside Port Elizabeth on the Eastern Cape. His favourite toy growing up was a brick and his grandmother, who initially raised him, died in his arms when he was 12.
After the match, Rassie Erasmus the South Africa coach, paid emotional tribute to the sacrifices made by his captain, who “didn’t have food or couldn’t go to school or didn’t have shoes to wear”.
Pienaar said: “He just plays like a warrior.”
Speaking as he arrived at the World Rugby awards in Tokyo, Pienaar added “you don’t get more emotion” than seeing “his dad flying for the first time in his life to watch his son play”.
“Wow … And then I see my number and the president [Cyril Ramaphosa] wearing the number which Mr Mandela wore, and I know that Cyril was very close to Mandela, very close.”
In Johannesburg 24 years ago, there was just one black player, Chester Williams, in the starting XV. By the time of South Africa’s second World Cup win in 2007, there were two. Of Erasmus’s squad of 31, 11 are black.
Kolisi had said after the match that victory would “pull the country together”, while the Duke of Sussex was among a host of English fans who set aside their heartache to pay tribute to the “uniting” impact of South Africa’s triumph.
Celebrating, Erasmus explained why his players felt under no pressure.
“In South Africa [pressure] is not having a job, having a close relative who is murdered,” he said. “Rugby should not create pressure, it should create hope. We have a privilege, not a burden.”
‘We had an incredible moment… but the support for this team and captain … he’s changed the game’