'What happened after the final is something we didn't comprehend'
When people describe a player as 100 percent captaincy material, Francois Pienaar perfectly fit the mould, on and off the field.
In the foreword to Pienaar’s autobiography, Rainbow Warrior, Nelson Mandela, wrote: “Amongst those sports leaders, Francois Pienaar stands out. It was under his inspiring leadership that rugby, a sport previously associated with one sector of our population and with a particular brand of politics, became the pride of the entire country. A beacon in our process of nation-building will always remain the Springboks under his captaincy, winning the World Cup in 1995.”
In terms of endorsement, that’s as good as it gets in anyone’s book.
But further recognition of his value to the sport, as well as society as a whole, came in 2011 when the charismatic flank was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Four years later, he was joined by Mandela.
The Hall of Fame is in English town of Rugby, the birthplace of the sport, and the number six jersey that Pienaar wore the day the Springboks beat the All Blacks 15-12 in the first-ever World Cup final to go to extra-time, is on display there.
“I am so proud of that jersey; it was so special to have been asked to put it on display,” recounts Pienaar, in an interview with World Rugby.
“It is the most insane moment that I think any sportsman can have, to win a World Championship, win a World Cup. It is very, very special, and to have done it in South Africa, to have done it with Mandela standing right next to me, also wearing a number six jersey, just ultra-special to me.”
As sporting images go, the sight of Mandela handing over the Webb Ellis Cup to Pienaar, while wearing the same Springbok number six jersey, is as iconic as they get. What most people didn’t see, however, was the effect it had on the team prior to kick-off, deep inside the bowels of the Ellis Park stadium.
“It was just insane seeing Mr Mandela walking into our changing room before the final wearing a Springbok on his heart,” Pienaar says. “It could have backfired again because the team was so emotional when that happened, and when he walked out, I saw my number on his back. I had to go and collect myself and then make sure that we calmed the guys down. I mean they were prepared to run through walls.”
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As well as running through walls, South Africa built one, made of green jerseys, in a bid to stop Jonah Lomu, the All Blacks’ powerhouse wing, from dominating them as he’d done to the other opposition throughout the tournament.
The tactic worked and Joel Stransky’s 15 points, all from kicks, eclipsed the 12 from the boot of his opposite number, Andrew Mehrtens, in the tensest of matches. Only a few short years after they’d been welcomed back into the international fold, South Africa had been crowned world champions.
“1995 was the most incredible experience that a rugby player can have, I think,” says Pienaar, still struck by the magnitude of the achievement.
“I always say I think I am the luckiest rugby player ever to have played the game, to be in the right place at the right time. South Africa, coming out of apartheid, the first major event, taking place in our country. The first opportunity to invite the world to South Africa and I was lucky enough to be the captain of the team.
“The whole journey was just insane, from the first game playing against the current world champions and favourites Australia, what an illustrious team they had, to the final. The final was epic, intense and went into extra-time, and the Joel kicked the goal that made us part of history.
“What happened after the final is something we didn’t comprehend,” he adds. “It’s probably fortunate that we didn’t understand how big the victory would be for South Africa because then the pressure I think might have been too intense.”
Deja vu in 2019
History repeated itself at last year’s tournament when Siya Kolisi, the first black player to captain the Springboks, followed in the footsteps of Pienaar and lifted the Webb Ellis Cup aloft while kitted out in the number six jersey.
From a Test scrumhalf benching 180, right up to the boys in the 200+ club. https://t.co/dePpLjMU1c
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 26, 2020
The parallels between the two momentous events were obvious, especially as the current South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, fulfilled his side of the bargain.
“President Ramaphosa arrived at the stadium and when he saw me, his first words were, ‘now I know we are going to win’, and I looked at him and said ‘President, did you bring a number six jersey?’ He said I did, and I said, ‘now I think we are going to win’.
“Seeing that number six jersey again is just emotional for me, having been privileged to play in it in 1995. Having the first-ever black captain of our national team, Mr Mandela would have immensely proud to see Siya lead the team out.”
Phenomenal Display
While Pienaar’s Springboks were taken to the wire by New Zealand, Kolisi’s class of 2019 were comfortable winners against England, by 32-12, at Japan 2019.
“They played the most incredible game of rugby, I was there, I was so excited, I just couldn’t help myself,” recalls Pienaar.
“It was just the most phenomenal display of rugby in a final, the pack was just awesome and then the two wingers scored the two tries. That made me think about my team, we had lost two of our players, we lost Chester Williams and James Small this year and they were the guys that played in 1995, so that made me quite emotional just thinking about that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments