SPORT THE GREAT UNIFIER

On the 2^nd of November it turned out to be one of the most significant day not only in South African rugby circles but the whole nation who joined to celebrate the victory of the springboks. The timing of the victory was so good because South Africa as country is going through a difficult period and Siya Kolisi’s post-match interview summed it up perfectly.

It was arguably one of the best rugby world cups if not the best I’ve watched. The lowlight of the tournament unfortunately was the typhoon which killed people and ultimately some of the games were postponed. Japan as many predicted welcomed everyone and the hospitality was so good that not even a single incident was reported. From the locals singing almost every participating’s national anthem, to filling all the stadiums every game, I have no doubt next year they will successfully host the summer Olympics games as well.

I was happy that my predictions from my previous blog that South Africa will go all the way and lift the cup came to pass but what I didn’t see coming was how good Japan would be. The biggest lesson to be learned from the Japanese campaign at the world cup was the fact that in a team-oriented sport all you need is unity and play according to plan. Unfortunately, they lost in the quarter finals to the eventual winners but for me that was one of the three major highlights of the tournament.

The second major highlight of the tournament for me came between England and the mighty All Blacks. I will be the first one to admit that what I saw that day was something special and by far it was the best match of the tournament. You have to give it to Eddie Jones, his team was motivated enough to take the game to New Zeland and his tactics worked perfectly.  It takes something special to beat the All Blacks, but it takes even a more clinical performance to comprehensively beat them.  As Eddie Jones labelled the All Blacks as the ‘’gods of rugby’’ so beating them would have felt so special.

Some might say the Springbok’s route to the final was easy but ask anyone who has played sport at the highest level they’ll tell you that there’s no International game which is easy. Before meeting England in the final, South Africa played Wales and it was one of the most boring games at the tournament but when it comes knockout games, it is all about getting the job done. I was worried obviously as a Springboks fan watching them struggle to convincingly beat the Welsh but what I saw in the final is why I love sport. Going into that game it was with no doubt that England were the favorites after beating the gods of rugby. Sport finals are generally boring, but the Springboks totally outclassed, outmuscled and overpowered the English. Rassie Erasmus changed the tactics and it was evident that their opponents were not expecting the running game but rather the kicking game instead. The third major highlight was when the final whistle came, and it was surreal that 18 months ago almost everyone including myself had written off the Springboks. Credit must be given Rassie for creating such a good culture and bringing back the pride of South African rugby. To contextualize Rassie’s achievement, all the four coaches who made it to the semi-final had overseen their various teams for 4 years prior to the world cup compared to Rassie. It’s an achievement which should be celebrated together with the team.

It was just after 13:00pm in the afternoon the first weekend of November 2019 when Jerome Garcia blew the whistle to signal the end of the rugby world cup final. The rainbow nation finally had a good reason to celebrate as the boys did not only do their country proud but more importantly putting the smiles on people’s faces. People of different races and religions flocked to the streets to celebrate what will obviously be the best moment of 2019 for South Africa. Whether you know the rugby rules or not, it was evident how the Springboks made people from different backgrounds unite for a good cause. The late great Nelson left us with the famous words “Sport has the power to change the world”, and what I witnessed with the Springbok’s win clearly epitomize that.