South Africa: Rugby World Cup Final – South Africa Progress Faces Huge Test

South Africa taking on New Zealand is the final die-hard rugby fans were hoping for. Rucks and mauls aside, the Springboks have tackled bigger demons since the sides met in the 1995 final.

South Africans could hardly watch as flyhalf Handre Pollard converted a late, late penalty in the Springboks’ 16-15 win over England to book them a place in the final against New Zealand.

“It was really intense for all South Africans, let me tell you something! The anxiety was really real for all of us. We were on the edge of our seats,” radio personality and sports journalist Carmen Reddy told DW.

On a wet night in Paris, where nothing seemed to go right for the South Africans, they somehow escaped with a win.

“That is what champions are made of,” said captain Siya Kolisi afterwards.

It’s something Kolisi would know better than most. Not only is his team the defending Rugby World Cup champion, but Kolisi and his teammates have battled through much more than a stoic English forwards pack to reach this stage.

Shades of 1995 final

The last time South Africa faced New Zealand for World Cup glory was the 1995 final at Ellis Park, Johannesburg. That day, the stoic Springboks edged the juggernaut, Jonah Lomu-inspired All Blacks 15-12.

A beaming Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically-elected president, wore a Springbok jersey and handed the Webb Ellis trophy to captain Francois Pienaar. The scene would have been unthinkable just five years earlier: Mandela was in prison, racist laws forbade interracial sport, and South Africa was banned from international sporting events. For many, the moment symbolized Mandela trying to unify a society deeply fractured by apartheid.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in the sport of rugby. For decades, only white players were eligible to play for the Springboks, and they were so closely associated with the apartheid system that, even many years later, some South Africans refused to support the Springboks.

Chester Williams was the only Black player in the 1995 side. Transforming the sport remained dispiritingly slow and politically charged. A prevailing attitude was Springbok rugby could either remain the realm of elite sportsmen, or become more inclusive, but not both. Even South Africa’s 2srcsrc7 World Cup win featured j