Legacy the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final.
It seems really strange that this is the tenth WC but only the second time that New Zealand and South Africa have met in the final. Each has three trophies to their name and they have been the two strongest rugby nations since 1987, with NZ being the strongest.
The 1995 final was the only other one featuring these two teams. It was the first major sports tournament to be held in SA since the end of Apartied and it was a huge deal for that reason. At the time, rugby was seen as a white man's sport (or Afrikaans support to be specific) and football (soccer) was seen as the game for blacks and 'coloureds'. South Africa has one black player in their squad and it was doubtful whether the majority of South Africans would even get behind the time. During apartheid, the non-white fans (kept in separate enclosures) would cheer the away team because they saw the Springboks as a symbol of their oppressors.
In 1995, the mood in the country was mixed. A big thing though was that Nelson Mandela got behind the team early on and got a lot of black supporters onboard as a national unity project. There was also enormous international goodwill towards South Africa after apartheid ended and the IRB gave them hosting rights for the first tournament possible. The team played well and got to the final.
So, going into the final, South Africa had God on their side and Nelson Mandela playing on the blindside. There was just one problem though: New Zealand had a formidable side. I remember watching the semi-final as a teenager and a supposedly strong England team was completely wiped out by the superior power and skill of the All Blacks. The 49-25 scoreline doesn't do the match justice because England was beaten by half-time. NZ let us score a few in the second half after the game was already won. The All Blacks had Jonah Lomu playing for them and he ran over English players like they were children playing against men.
[media=https://youtu.be/Un3XOVkJuD4]
The sport was a slower one then but at the time, this was a new level of rugby and only one team in the world could play it. Unfortunately for the All Blacks, most of the team got diagnosed with food poisoning on the day of the game. This is still a grievance for Kiwis because they claim (not without reason) that the South African chef at their hotel poisoned their food. Ever since then, they have taken their own chef.
The final itself was a close one and ended with a narrow South African win. Nelson Mandela presented Francois Pienaar with the trophy he, said: "Thank you for everything you have done for South Africa."
"We could never do what you have done for South Africa," was Pienaar's perfect reply. Unsurprisingly, the SA captain became a rugby diplomat after he retired. It's such a cheesy Holywood ending that it eventually got made into a movie, called Invictus. Morgan Freidman played Mandela and Pienaar was played by Matt Damon.
[media=https://youtu.be/YNsm8uka6B4]
The New Zealand players returned home devastated. Their country lives and breathes rugby. They dominated the sport over the coming years but had to wait until 2011 to win the tournament again because a pattern had begun of them 'choking' in major games, despite usually having the best team. Jonah Lomu never really fulfilled his potential though and 1995 was his peak. South Africa has been through good periods and bad periods but they have done enough to win two further world cups. Their team is now a lot more multi-racial because a lot more non-whites play the game these days. As their football team continues to be mediocre, it's the rugby team that seems to unite the nation. In New Zealand, rugby is the main thing that puts a country of four and a half million on the map so it matters greatly.
So, there is a lot of legacy behind tonight's final. May the best team win.
The 1995 final was the only other one featuring these two teams. It was the first major sports tournament to be held in SA since the end of Apartied and it was a huge deal for that reason. At the time, rugby was seen as a white man's sport (or Afrikaans support to be specific) and football (soccer) was seen as the game for blacks and 'coloureds'. South Africa has one black player in their squad and it was doubtful whether the majority of South Africans would even get behind the time. During apartheid, the non-white fans (kept in separate enclosures) would cheer the away team because they saw the Springboks as a symbol of their oppressors.
In 1995, the mood in the country was mixed. A big thing though was that Nelson Mandela got behind the team early on and got a lot of black supporters onboard as a national unity project. There was also enormous international goodwill towards South Africa after apartheid ended and the IRB gave them hosting rights for the first tournament possible. The team played well and got to the final.
So, going into the final, South Africa had God on their side and Nelson Mandela playing on the blindside. There was just one problem though: New Zealand had a formidable side. I remember watching the semi-final as a teenager and a supposedly strong England team was completely wiped out by the superior power and skill of the All Blacks. The 49-25 scoreline doesn't do the match justice because England was beaten by half-time. NZ let us score a few in the second half after the game was already won. The All Blacks had Jonah Lomu playing for them and he ran over English players like they were children playing against men.
[media=https://youtu.be/Un3XOVkJuD4]
The sport was a slower one then but at the time, this was a new level of rugby and only one team in the world could play it. Unfortunately for the All Blacks, most of the team got diagnosed with food poisoning on the day of the game. This is still a grievance for Kiwis because they claim (not without reason) that the South African chef at their hotel poisoned their food. Ever since then, they have taken their own chef.
The final itself was a close one and ended with a narrow South African win. Nelson Mandela presented Francois Pienaar with the trophy he, said: "Thank you for everything you have done for South Africa."
"We could never do what you have done for South Africa," was Pienaar's perfect reply. Unsurprisingly, the SA captain became a rugby diplomat after he retired. It's such a cheesy Holywood ending that it eventually got made into a movie, called Invictus. Morgan Freidman played Mandela and Pienaar was played by Matt Damon.
[media=https://youtu.be/YNsm8uka6B4]
The New Zealand players returned home devastated. Their country lives and breathes rugby. They dominated the sport over the coming years but had to wait until 2011 to win the tournament again because a pattern had begun of them 'choking' in major games, despite usually having the best team. Jonah Lomu never really fulfilled his potential though and 1995 was his peak. South Africa has been through good periods and bad periods but they have done enough to win two further world cups. Their team is now a lot more multi-racial because a lot more non-whites play the game these days. As their football team continues to be mediocre, it's the rugby team that seems to unite the nation. In New Zealand, rugby is the main thing that puts a country of four and a half million on the map so it matters greatly.
So, there is a lot of legacy behind tonight's final. May the best team win.
41-45, M
