Let’s cherish the sporting light in our political and social darkness

When you come out on top of what just about everyone is calling one of the greatest contests in the history of rugby union – and especially by the margin of a single point – you can heave an enormous sigh of relief.

That’s what the Springboks and their heart-stopped supporters all over the world did on Sunday night when referee Ben O’ Keefe blew the full-time whistle with the scoreboard on 29-28.

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If we’re honest, we have to acknowledge we were lucky … although not as lucky as grumpy French captain Antoine Dupont seems to think we were because the ref was on our side. Sorry, Antoine, you could make just as many “we wuz robbed” arguments on the Bok side for moments in the game when refereeing decisions did not make sense.

Yet, sometimes, you do make your own luck. You train, you train and you train some more. And you put in a 100% commitment, even when most pundits would wonder why you bother. That is what Cheslin Kolbe did.

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The naysayers would have said the chances of a successful charge down of a conversion are minimal … but naysayers clearly don’t get much headspace in Kolbe’s world. And that charge down was the difference between defeat and victory.

Captain Siya Kolisi said that the Boks are playing for a nation… and that was again true. Despite the EFF grinches who tried to steal our patriotic pride by urging people not to watch what they consider a racist and untransformed sport, people of all races did so in numbers.

ALSO READ: RWC 2023 quarter-final result: France 28 Springboks 29

And, in the process, they showed that what unites South Africans is victory. We’ve seen it in rugby in 1995, 2007 and 2019, as well as with Siphiwe Tshabalala’s first goal in the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Let’s cherish the sporting light in our political and social darkness.

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