The Boks heard every South African cheering them on

Sometimes, the answers to the universe’s most intricate questions are found when one least expects it. Like when getting into a bath which then overflows. Eureka! Or when an apple falls from a tree.

One of the questions debated through millennia is whether, when a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, it makes a sound.

Well, it does indeed. I made that discovery on Saturday while doing cartwheels in my living room after the Springboks beat the British & Irish Lions in the second Test.

Fact is, the whole of the country celebrated a magic moment in time, having experienced it at the exact same time, but without really having seen – or heard – it. Because the game was played behind closed doors, no one can really say that they saw the Springboks win.

After the game, my mates and I reminisced about some of the great rugby clashes we were privileged to watch at a stadium. Turns out, even at a stadium, one doesn’t always see the picture.

I, for example, missed a match-winning kick thanks to some dimwit waving a flag in frontof me at that crucial moment. Once, I nearly got beaten up for missing a vital second of play. A Lions player – the ones who call Ellis Park home – dived over for a match-winning try.

My vision was obscured when the fan in front of me jumped up and doused me in beer. By the time I refocused, I was standing on my chair, arms outstretched like I’d just won a stage of the Tour de France, roaring like a lion. But, in that moment lost to me, the player had knocked on the ball. I still wonder who felt the biggest idiot.

But back to the Boks. Yes, no one was in the stadium to see them chop down the Lions. But the whole of the country heard the thunderous noise as the Lions came crashing down. And what a beautiful noise it was.

I also believe that, despite the empty stadium, the Boks heard every single South African cheering them on. Come Saturday, we’ll do so again.