Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And once you find the will, there’s no stopping you. Just ask the Springboks.
According to the guys over at World Rugby, South Africa didn’t have the best players on planet earth at the Rugby World Cup in France.
In fact only one player, Eben Etzebeth, made World Rugby’s 2023 Dream Team announced at the weekend. Weird for the world champions to only have one player in a team that claims to boast the best of the best.
But it shows you that what we had was so much stronger than a team of superstars. We had heart, we had history and we had a will to win.
Captain Siya Kolisi summed it up best for me after lifting the Webb Ellis Cup for the second time when he said: “Coach Rassie [Erasmius] said great things are never achieved in ideal conditions, and this wasn’t ideal conditions for us as a group.
“Playing the home team in their country was one of the hardest things to do and obviously when we played against England, which was tight, we had to fight and [against New Zealand it was] no different.
“The motivation was everything from home and our families.
“The coaches created an environment for us where we can be with our families no matter where we are, it feels like we are home. 15-20 kids are running around the hotel. It’s one of the greatest things they could have done for us.
“People, also from SA – some of our friends – they’ve used their savings to come and watch us.
“For me not to give my 100 percent on the field would be cheating all those people and that’s what the coaches always remind us of. The motivations for us, we don’t have to look far.”
Allow me to repeat that quote: “For me not to give my 100 percent on the field would be cheating all those people…” The Boks beat hosts France by a single point in the quarter-final. In that match, South Africa made 158 tackles to the 92 made by their hosts.
Who’d ever forget the bloodied and bruised face of Jesse Kriel walking off the pitch as if he’d just gone to war? I thought there was no way they could repeat that performance twice in one week.
Then came England and these guys simply refused to lie down.
Looking dead and buried at one stage, they got through in the end with a 78th-minute penalty kick via Handre Pollard for another one-point win. Onto the final where SA made an incredible 209 hits to the 92 made by NZ.
And here I want to single out Pieter-Steph du Toit, a player I believed was past his best after some big injuries in recent seasons. He made a hele 14 tackles in the first half alone. I thought surely his tank would run empty in the second 40, but then he made the same amount to claim the Man of the Match award.
Look, South Africa, the Springboks won this World Cup for you. Every single player in the squad played his role as if he knew that every single aspiring rugby player in SA and every single fan would have given their all to be in their shoes.
They knew it was a privilege to don the Green and Gold jersey and to my mind, this is the best victory since 1995. If not better.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have watched all four World Cup victories SA had to date and I can tell you that how these men bled for their country this year is nothing I’ve ever experienced.
Like Kolisi also said: “This trophy was for the people experiencing tough circumstances, those in Zwide, Goodwood and Malmesbury, and all other communities and townships, but also for those who are better to do, and everyone who wants to make something of their lives.”
Take a bow Springboks, I don’t label men heroes often but what you guys did in France was simply heroic.