Latest news with #JoelStransky
New York Times
24-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup win united and ‘galvanised' a nation
My wife hates sports films but I had to watch Invictus again as research for this piece so I fibbed and told her the Clint Eastwood-directed movie was all about Nelson Mandela, without mentioning the rugby. 'I don't like them either,' says former South Africa international Joel Stransky. 'But I've watched it twice and I love the story of Madiba (the Xhosa clan name that many South Africans use for Mandela as a mark of respect) — he's my absolute hero. A man who gave up so much for his beliefs, who was so forgiving and so wise in the way he used sport to bring a nation together at a time which could have been quite tumultuous if he hadn't. Advertisement 'The rugby was terrible, though.' And Stransky should know because he is the guy played by Eastwood's son Scott in the film, the guy who kicked all 15 of South Africa's points, including an extra-time drop goal, in the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand on 24 June, 1995. It was 30 years ago but he has been reminded of the match every other week since — and five times a day as we approach milestones like Tuesday's. 'A drop goal's a drop goal,' he says, modestly but with a big grin on his face. 'What can I say? It was a good day for us.' By us, he means his teammates, who were not tipped to make the final at the start of the tournament and certainly were not favoured for the game against the All Blacks and their wrecking-ball winger Jonah Lomu. But, more importantly, Stransky also means all South Africans. For those of you who did not watch the game or have not seen the film, read the book upon which it is based — John Carlin's Playing The Enemy — or caught the 30 for 30 documentary, The 16th Man, what I am about to write really did happen. In 1990, Mandela, the world's most famous political prisoner, walked free. Then 71, he had served 27 years of a life sentence for trying to overthrow South Africa's apartheid regime, a set of laws designed to keep the White minority in power by racially segregating the country. It was a system so heinous the United Nations called it a crime against humanity. The government released him because they knew the game was up. Political isolation, economic sanctions and sporting boycotts had made life miserable for the White minority, while the Black majority were in despair and ready to explode. Four years later, South Africa held its first genuinely democratic elections and Mandela was elected president. Many believed civil war was imminent and it was not just fear-mongering. A large segment of the Afrikaans-speaking White population were convinced majority rule meant the end of everything they held dear and perhaps, even worse, the precursor to violent revenge. Advertisement One of the things they held most dear was South Africa's rugby team, the Springboks. To Afrikaners, in particular, rugby was on a par with the Dutch Reformed Church in the religion stakes. To most of the non-White population, those aggressive, well-fed, green-shirted men were as symbolic of the old regime as the apartheid-era anthem, flag and politics. Indifferent to the sport, which the majority had never been allowed to play, many wanted to bury the Springboks' past, renaming the team the Proteas after South Africa's national flower. Mandela not only put his reputation on the line by persuading his colleagues in the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), to leave the team's name and badge alone, but he spent a significant political capital by actively supporting the team as they prepared to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The way the film tells it, Mandela got the idea while watching the Springboks lose at home to England in 1994. Having been ostracised by most countries for two decades, South Africa returned to the international rugby scene in 1992 and were understandably rusty. But what struck Morgan Freeman's uncanny interpretation of Mandela was the fact that the small number of non-Whites in the crowd were cheering for the away team, just as he and his fellow prisoners had done while their guards listened to Springbok matches. As Carlin explains in his wonderful book, Mandela had already used rugby as means to find common ground with the establishment. By the mid-1980s, he had been moved from his tiny cell on Robben Island to a mainland prison called Pollsmoor so that government officials could meet him in secret. Conditions were better but the boss of the maximum security unit, Major Fritz van Sittert, was still deeply suspicious of his celebrity guest. So when Mandela met him for the first time, he smiled, shook his hand and spoke in Afrikaans, launching into small talk about rugby. The major melted, so much so that when Mandela told him he was getting too much food at lunchtime but it was cold by the time he ate it in the evening, Van Sittert ordered the guards to put a hotplate in his cell. What comes across in Carlin's account is that Mandela had an incredible capacity for finding warmth in people. He respected the best of Afrikaner culture and knew South Africa would have no future if it replaced one form of tyranny with another. He had been thinking of ways to prove to the White minority that majority rule would not obliterate them and the Springboks became the perfect vessel. Advertisement Eastwood's film is largely and (fairly) faithfully based on the last quarter of Carlin's book. We are too far in for spoiler alerts but the Springboks start well, grow in confidence, survive an almighty scare against France in the semi-final and beat New Zealand 15-12 in a wrestling match. If we are picking nits, we could point out that the Springboks were never complete outsiders, Mandela never fully grasped the game's intricacies and he also did not give Pienaar a copy of William Ernest Henley's poem Invictus to use as a pre-match team talk, so the film's recurring motif of Mandela and Pienaar being masters of their fates and captains of their souls is an example of Hollywood hyperbole. For what it is worth, Mandela actually gave him the text of Theodore Roosevelt's 'Man in the Arena' speech, which is more about ignoring external noise and striving for greatness, regardless of the result. But the rest? Yeah, Mandela really did surprise everyone by greeting the teams in Pienaar's spare No 6 jersey, a South African Airways 747 did buzz the field, twice, before kick-off with 'Good luck Bokke' (Afrikaans for Boks) written on its underside and Pienaar did deliver two lines no scriptwriter could improve. Asked by a pitch-side reporter what it was like to play in front of a packed crowd in Johannesburg, Pienaar corrected him by saying: 'We didn't have 60,000 fans behind us — we had 43million South Africans.' And then when Mandela handed him the trophy and said: 'Francois, thank you very much for what you have done for our country.' Pienaar replied: 'No, thank you, Mr President, for what you have done for our country.' Like most of his compatriots, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the second most famous South African at that time, watched the game on TV and was as delighted as everyone else. But he knew what the real story was. 'The match did for us what speeches of politicians and archbishops could not do. It galvanised us, it made us realise that it was actually possible for us to be on the same side,' he told Carlin. But what happened next? Did that triumph solve all of South Africa's ills? Did the Springboks immediately become an embodiment of Tutu's 'Rainbow Nation'? Did everyone live happily ever after? Thinus Delport was 20 when South Africa won their first Rugby World Cup (they have won three since, including the last two in a row) and was playing rugby at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), which has become the University of Johannesburg, and for the under-21 side at one of South Africa's best provincial teams. Advertisement 'Those moments and what Nelson Mandela did were a huge step in unifying us as a country,' the former Gloucester, Worcester and South Africa star tells The Athletic. 'Suddenly, everyone was cheering for Amabokoboko (the fact that the Springboks now had a Xhosa/Zulu nickname said it all) — it was great. Certainly everyone in my sphere, whatever their background, was celebrating. 'The guys on that squad were a massive inspiration to my generation of players. We'd see those guys at uni or on the circuit and say, 'Look, there's so-and-so'. They were heroes to us. It was an incredible time for the country but also for rugby, as the game was just about to go professional — the first contracts were handed out in 1996. 'There was this sudden realisation that this thing we loved could also be a career. We all wanted to be Springboks but now there was extra motivation.' South African democracy was not the only fledgling entity with growing pains. Rugby union, traditionally an amateur sport, was becoming professional and Pienaar & Co were hot property. If the South African Rugby Union (SARU) was not ready to pay them, Australian media mogul Kerry Packer and his breakaway World Rugby Corporation was. The union folded but did so begrudgingly. 'I remember people just driving about tooting their horns and shouting 'Viva South Africa' out of the window,' explains James Adams, who was still at high school in 1995 but would follow Delport to RAU and now runs South Africa's top agency for rugby players. 'It certainly inspired me to think I could have a career in sport — it was an incredibly exciting time.' But, as well as rows about the rush to professionalism, the old rifts over race reopened, with some senior figures in the game reluctant to see the Springboks go the same way as the rest of the country. Advertisement Edward Griffiths, a former journalist who had been appointed SARU chief executive shortly before the tournament, says 1995 'provided an image of a unified South Africa winning.' 'It became a powerful symbol for lots of people, White and Black, that the transition to democracy, despite all the fears and anger, could actually work. Every South African will be aware of the picture of our first Black president handing the trophy to the white captain. Both of them wearing Springbok jerseys. 'The mood in the country was very fragile and tense. It was only a year after the first democratic elections and a lot of White people were still very concerned about what would happen to them. 'But a lot of the progress made during the World Cup was undone in the immediate aftermath. Within 15 months, four of the key people involved in the tournament — myself, coach Kitch Christie, team manager Morne du Plessis and Pienaar himself — were gone.' Griffiths, who came up with the 'one team, one country' slogan that grabbed the nation's attention, points out it was only three years after that iconic picture that the game's bosses forced Mandela to testify in court as part of their legal action to block a government commission he had introduced to investigate claims of racism in rugby. 'There were still a lot of people at the top of the game who thought the rest of the country might have been taken from them but rugby would not,' says Griffiths, who was forced out of the job in 1996, soon after he suggested using 40 per cent of the RWC's profits on building 40 new grassroots facilities in non-White areas. His other controversial idea was to introduce the first quotas for boosting non-White representation at the annual Craven Week tournament, the pinnacle of South Africa's hugely competitive school rugby system. 'For all the undeniable feel-good factor of 1995, there was a reaction from white Afrikaners,' says Griffiths, who would later move to England and serve stints as CEO at Saracens and chairman at Bath. The policy of quotas, in particular, would become the dominant topic of debate for the next decade or so. The 1995 team had only one non-White player, Chester Williams, but the 2007 RWC-winning team had six in the squad and two in the starting line-up, including Bryan Habana who was at the 1995 final as a 12-year-old fan. For some, that rate of change was not fast enough for a country where White people make up just over seven per cent of the population, according to a 2022 census. Advertisement But real, non-contrived change was coming. And a new generation of World Cup-winning heroes would supercharge that shift. 'The teams these days are chosen on merit,' says Delport. 'There will always be a few politicians who will talk about the demographics but the guys coming through now have been exposed to good rugby, good nutrition and good coaching from a young age. Everyone is on a level playing field. 'This started in the late 90s and early noughties with the schools becoming more mixed. You'll have certain areas where the racial make-up just means the schools will be more White, more Black, more Coloured, but the top rugby schools are very diverse.' Adams agrees. 'The big political push to make the team integrated came after 1995 and it took time,' he says. 'But I would say every player who has been picked for the Springboks in the last 10-plus years has been there on merit. We've transitioned in the right way.' For Stransky, both the secret of South Africa's success as a rugby nation and the Springboks' transition to a team that truly represents South Africa are those schools. 'I don't think you can talk about White schools anymore,' he says. 'White schools don't exist, they're fully integrated. OK, some of them will be language-based, so you'll find some Afrikaans schools where there won't be many Black kids. And then there will be African-language schools with no White kids. 'But if you look at the schools that are driving schoolboy rugby in this country, they're all completely multiracial.' Siya Kolisi, the Springboks' first Black captain and the man who has lifted the last two World Cups, had a tough start in life in a township near Port Elizabeth but earned a sports scholarship to Grey High. He is now arguably the most popular man in South Africa. 'In every way you would think he's iconic, he is really is iconic,' says Stransky. 'He's just this normal guy who exudes leadership skills and love and warmth and wisdom — everything that Madiba stood for.' Advertisement Adams and Delport believe that rugby now rivals football for popularity across the country, a turn of events no doubt helped by South Africa's victories in the former and frustrations in the latter (although Bafana Bafana, as the football team are known, are also on the up). According to the SARU, male participation in the country grew, year on year, by 16 per cent in 2024, bucking a downward trend in many other traditional rugby-playing nations. 'It's big and getting bigger,' says Delport, who is involved with Kolisi in Project Zulu, a charity that is bringing the sport to South Africa's largest ethnic group. 'Nobody is talking about quotas anymore. South African rugby has become fully integrated, it just took a little longer than many hoped after 1995,' says Griffiths. 'What 1995 provided was an image — a very powerful image — but the transition took longer.' And it is not just rugby. Earlier this month, Temba Bavuma, the first Black captain of South Africa's cricket team, lifted the World Test Championship trophy at Lord's, the home of cricket. After years of near-misses in the big games, the Proteas beat Australia to land only their second International Cricket Council title. Sport is not everything, though, and no South African would claim that all of Mandela's successors have shared his integrity, wisdom and work ethic. The country remains a work in progress. 'We're a proud nation,' says Stransky. 'We need these little pinnacles of excellence because some parts of our society are broken. 'Every political system is a little bit corrupt in some way. If you go back in time, the National Party (the party that governed during the apartheid era) was corrupt in their own way but the extent of today's corruption would upset Mandela. 'But there are other things that would make him incredibly proud. He wanted a democratic country that stood for what it believed in. As disappointed as he'd be in the ANC's performance, he'd be delighted that there's a government of national unity now doing what they believe is right. Advertisement 'And he'd be the happiest man in the world to see Temba Bavuma captaining the cricket side. He'd be the proudest man in the world to see Kiya Solisi captaining the Springboks.' With leaders like that, South Africa is still the master of its own fate, captain of its own soul. Mandela, ever the optimist, would take that.
The South African
24-06-2025
- Sport
- The South African
Rugby World Cup 1995: Where were YOU on this day 30 years ago?
Every South African rugby fan will be able to recall where he or she was on this day 30 years ago as the Springboks lifted the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Provided you were born of course, 24 June 1995 will forever stick in the memory bank as Francois Pienaar accepted the trophy from Nelson Mandela following a nail-biting extra-time victory over the All Blacks. Personally, I watched the match at friend's house then headed to that infamous watering hole in Claremont called 'Green Man' (remember it?) where they rescreened the Test. We drank beer, we drank more beer, and then around 05:00 the next morning they kicked us out. There are also vague recollections of street lights being climbed and flags stolen along Main Road in Rondebosch, but that might just have been the beer talking … Let us know by … Leaving a comment below, or sending a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news. On this day 30 years ago Joel Stransky landed an extra-time drop goal as the Springboks beat the All Blacks 15-12 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It was the first of a record four Rugby World Cup titles for the Springboks, who would go on to win the 2007 World Cup in France under captain John Smit and coach Jake White, the 2019 edition in Japan with Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus as skipper and coach, respectively, as well as the 2023 tournament in France with Kolisi and Jacques Nienaber at the helm. Anyone betting against the Springboks making it a hat-trick of titles – and five overall – in 2027 in Australia? That day – Saturday, 24 June 1995 – remains arguably the greatest ever sporting occasion in South Africa's history. So, what has happened to the starting XV from that unforgettable 1995 final? Tragically, five of the run-on team have died, along with coach Kitch Christie. 15. Andre Joubert 14. James Small (RIP) 13. Japie Mulder 12. Hennie le Roux 11. Chester Williams (RIP) 10. Joel Stransky 9. Joost van der Westhuizen (RIP) 8. Mark Andrews 7. Ruben Kruger (RIP) 6. Francois Pienaar (captain) 5. Hannes Strydom (RIP) 4. Kobus Wiese 3. Balie Swart 2. Chris Roussow 1. Os du Randt SUBSTITUTES 16. Naka Drotske 17. Brendan Venter 18. Rudolph Straeuli 19. Johan Roux 20. Garry Pagel 21. Gavin Johnson Coach: Kitch Christie (RIP)
The South African
24-06-2025
- Sport
- The South African
On this day in 1995: Joel Stransky drop-kicked Springboks to Rugby World Cup victory
On this day 30 years ago Joel Stransky landed an extra-time drop goal as the Springboks beat the All Blacks 15-12 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It was the first of a record four Rugby World Cup titles for the Springboks, who would go on to win the 2007 World Cup in France under captain John Smit and coach Jake White, the 2019 edition in Japan with Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus as skipper and coach, respectively, as well as the 2023 tournament in France with Kolisi and Jacques Nienaber at the helm. Anyone betting against the Springboks making it a hat-trick of titles – and five overall – in 2027 in Australia? That day – Saturday, 24 June 1995 – remains arguably the greatest ever sporting occasion in South Africa's history. So, what has happened to the starting XV from that unforgettable 1995 final? Tragically, five of the run-on team have died, along with coach Kitch Christie. 15. Andre Joubert 14. James Small (RIP) 13. Japie Mulder 12. Hennie le Roux 11. Chester Williams (RIP) 10. Joel Stransky 9. Joost van der Westhuizen (RIP) 8. Mark Andrews 7. Ruben Kruger (RIP) 6. Francois Pienaar (captain) 5. Hannes Strydom (RIP) 4. Kobus Wiese 3. Balie Swart 2. Chris Roussow 1. Os du Randt SUBSTITUTES 16. Naka Drotske 17. Brendan Venter 18. Rudolph Straeuli 19. Johan Roux 20. Garry Pagel 21. Gavin Johnson Coach: Kitch Christie (RIP) Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Irish Times
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Matt Williams: Bulls have a simple, winning game plan, and Leinster must simply smash it
In the decades since Joel Stransky's drop goal sailed over the Ellis Park crossbar to win the 1995 RWC Final, South African rugby teams have refined that famous day's game plan into an owner's manual for winning finals. Across the decades, in repeated winning finals performances, South African teams have implemented that original 1995 winning plan with little deviation from its basics. At its heart, this gameplan's genius is designed to place game-winning pressure on their opponents in the most extreme environment of elite rugby finals. Like all great plans, it is very simple. It is based on the truth that, in big games, the team that makes the least mistakes wins. In rugby, there are only three ways to move the ball forward: either by kicking, mauling or running the ball. READ MORE Springboks' Joel Stransky is congratulated by head coach Kich Christie after their 1995 Rugby World Cup Final victory against New Zealand at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Allsport/A running game requires passing, which carries the highest risk of the three forms of 'go forward'. So, in finals, the South Africans all but eliminate the running game from their play. Selection is paramount and the South Africans choose as many giant forwards as the laws allow. The bigger, the better. The ignorant tolerance from World Rugby that allows the exploitation of the loophole in our safety laws for a 7-1 or 6-2 bench has been a giant bonus to the South Africans' game plan. This is because the foundational principle of the SA plan is to completely dominate all scrummaging with the sole purpose of winning penalties. The second key factor is to select a goal kicker with a long-range boot and an exceptionally high success percentage. Any kickable scrum penalty is gladly taken, and the three points accumulated to put scoreboard pressure on their opponent. While the current generation of South African backline players are immensely gifted athletes, any attacking ability is a secondary consideration behind their ability to chase kicks. [ Six of the best games between Leinster and Bulls ahead of URC final Opens in new window ] The aim of the South African kicking game is to trap their opponent in their own half so that any error will be punished with a shot at a penalty goal. If a shot at the posts is not possible, then a kick to touch will be followed by a lineout that almost certainly will be mauled. While the basis of this plan has been around for 30 years, that does not mean that it is outdated. When we are considering tactics and strategies, the term 'old school' does not exist. The only question that needs to be answered is, 'Does it work?' As the South African game plan for finals remains highly effective, the answer to that is a big 'Yes'. As the late Australian Billionaire Kerry Packer once said of Genghis Khan, 'He wasn't very lovable, but he was bloody effective.' The same can be said of the South African finals game plan. It creates spectacularly ugly games of rugby, but it wins trophies. John Smit, coach Jake White and Bryan Habana celebrate winning the 2007 World Cup rugby final between England and South Africa. Photograph: Liewig Christian/Corbis via Getty Images The South Africans will argue that the ends justify the means. Which is understandable from their point of view. While acknowledging its effectiveness, we have to also state that it does create turgid viewing on rugby's biggest days. The Bulls are guided by the 2007 World Cup-winning coach Jake White. Vastly experienced and tactically astute, with an extraordinarily high rugby IQ, White has played a big role in refining the game plan that has provided so much success for South African teams. As the Bulls have lost two UFC finals in 2022 and 2024, I expect White to implement the tried-and-tested South African finals game plan in full this weekend. Usually, an Irish team blessed with the golden opportunity to perform on the hallowed turf of Croke Park against an opponent who has been forced to travel up from South Africa would be the red hot favourites. Yet, after so many heartbreaks in semi-finals and finals, the psychological trauma of those torments has damaged Leinster's confidence as a club. Confidence is contagious. So too is the lack of it. The Bulls are aiming to rip open every psychological scab and make all of Leinster's past mental slashes bleed once again. As the men in blue walk out on to Croker, they will be under an almost unimaginable mountain of pressure. Buoyed by the fact that in the past two URC finals the away team has lifted the trophy, the astute mind of Jake White will have the Bulls aiming to maximise the pressure thumping inside the minds of the Leinster players. So, against all logic, it will be the Bulls who will hold the psychological advantage. Twenty-four years ago, at the first Celtic League final, which was the forerunner of today's URC, Leo Cullen was a young Leinster second-rower. Leinster's Jamie Osborne scores his side's fifth try at the URC semi-final between Leinster and Glasgow Warriors at Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho That day at half time, Leinster were in deep trouble. With a player sent off and trailing on the scoreboard to a talented Munster, no one in the rugby world gave that Leinster team any chance of winning. The only individuals on the planet who did were the only people that mattered – the players inside the dressingroom. To their great credit, that Leinster team believed they could win and put in a spectacular second-half shift for a famous victory. If Leo Cullen can make today's Leinster players believe that they have the talent to overcome their past, then they will win because, despite their history, this remains an excellent team. [ Leinster's Dan Sheehan says it is time to get physical in Saturday's showdown with Bulls Opens in new window ] While the Bulls are bringing some potent tactics, to paraphrase Mike Tyson, Leinster must smash the Bulls' plans with a D4 punch to their Pretorian noses. To do this, Leinster must remain true to who they are, their heritage and their DNA. At every opportunity, they must relentlessly physically attack the Bulls, forcing the psychological pressure back on the South Africans. Remembering that the Bulls are also scared, having lost two finals in recent years. On Saturday, the long-suffering Leinster faithful have a giant role to play. While D4 is doubting their team, the Bible advises them to 'act as if you have faith and faith will be provided'. Or, in modern parlance, 'Fake it till you make it.' So to all the 'Molly Malones', leave your doubts at home and yell yourselves hoarse to inspire your team inside that glorious sporting cathedral. For Leinster to banish the past four seasons to the waste paper basket of history, they will have to overcome a Bulls game plan that has been proven capable of winning finals. Despite the enormity of that task, with belief, courage and hearts of fire, it can be Leinster's day.
The South African
26-05-2025
- Sport
- The South African
Ranked: Five greatest Springbok games of all time
Trying to settle on the greatest Springbok games of all time is an almost impossible task, with four World Cup titles having been won over the last three decades alone. Nevertheless, we have attempted to rank the five games that truly stand out. 1995 Rugby World Cup final With sporting isolation a thing of the past, the Springboks came into the 1995 World Cup with very few expectations, but a courageous team of warriors managed to progress through to the final. Entering the title decider, it was still the mighty All Blacks who were overwhelming favourites despite South Africa's home ground advantage. The virtually unstoppable Jonah Lomu was expected to lead New Zealand to triumph, but instead the home side delivered one of the most iconic team efforts to keep him and his teammates at bay, while the match-winning drop goal from Joel Stransky will forever be etched in Springbok history. 2009 British & Irish Lions, second Test Coming into this series as world champions, the Springboks claimed an impressive victory in the first Test at Kings Park, but no one could have predicted what a fierce backlash it would spark. In one of the most physical and bloody battles in modern Test history, the two teams went toe to toe as Jaque Fourie scored one of the greatest tries of all time. However, it still required a sensational 50m last-minute penalty kick from Morne Steyn to ensure the Springboks came away with one of their most iconic victories of all time (28-25). 2018 Wellington win After a period of struggling performances, the Springboks claimed their first-ever victory over the All Blacks at Wellington's Wespac Stadium in Rassie Erasmus' first year in charge. It was widely credited as the game that gave the team belief that World Cup glory could be possible a year later, and what an epic it was as Aphiwe Dyantyi scored two tries and made a game-defining last-minute intervention to help secure a 36-34 win. Among the records that tumbled, no All Blacks team had previously conceded 36 points against any team on home soil since their first Test match in 1903. It was also their first loss against the Springboks in seven matches at the Westpac Stadium, while the five tries conceded was also a record against South Africa at that venue. 2019 World Cup final After battling Wales in the semi-finals, the Springboks came into the 2019 final needing to produce a vastly-improved performance against a highly fancied England team that had just knocked out the All Blacks. What transpired was one of the most clinical and classy performances in a knockout game of such magnitude, with the Springboks dominating on defence and at scrum time before pulling away to claim a 32-12 victory. And of course, who could ever forget the epic tries scored by Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe in a victory for the ages. 2023 World Cup quarter-final There were so many games in the 2023 World Cup that were absolute thrillers, including the title decider against arch-rivals New Zealand, which the Springboks won by a solitary point. However, it's impossible to overlook the quarter-final win against hosts France in a match that undoubtedly had one of the most electric atmospheres in the history of world rugby. After just managing to stay in the game after a frightfully fast start from France, the Springboks scored some stunning tries through Eben Etzebeth, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe, who also completed one of the most iconic charge-downs. Eventually triumphing 29-28, it was undoubtedly one of the most iconic matches of all time. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
