RWC19: My five highlights of the victorious Bok World Cup journey

The bravery of coach Rassie Erasmus, his honesty and the straight-shooting manner in which he dealt with the players:

It took a lot of bravery for Erasmus to ignore what the likes of New Zealand were trying to do and return to traditional South African strengths, to the style of play needed to win Test matches rather than the flowing, high-scoring games with limited emphasis on defence or kicking for territory we have seen previously in Super Rugby. The extraordinarily meticulous planning that went into the World Cup campaign was a standout feature. The players responded to the courage and clarity shown by Erasmus by showing great character themselves and the adaptability to change tack during games.

Erasmus ignored public sentiment and stuck with players like the recently-injured Siya Kolisi, Damian de Allende and Willie le Roux and was richly rewarded:

Much like Francois Pienaar in 1995 and John Smit in 2007, Kolisi was the inspirational captain any World Cup winning team needs; he led from the front in terms of putting his body on the line and had an indefatigable work-rate. De Allende was arguably the best inside centre in the tournament, a pillar of strength in his channel, bossing the gain-line and also showing some deft touches on attack. Le Roux bounced back from a serious shoulder injury that led to shocking games in the quarter and semi-final and was outstanding in the final.

The superb use of the bench:

Never before has a Springbok team made such good use of their replacements, to such an extent that they became a team within a team – The Bomb Squad. The impact the bench made was in the same vein as the approach of the starting XV – just a massive physical onslaught. South Africa had arguably the two best packs at the World Cup, with Francois Steyn’s versatility, and the sacrifice for the team by Elton Jantjies, making it all possible. The tactic was so effective that sore losers in the North immediately began talking about changing the rules to stop it.

The ability of the team to rise above all obstacles:

The Springboks hit their first hurdle when they lost to the All Blacks in the opening match. They were gleefully reminded that no team had ever won the World Cup after losing a pool game. But they negotiated the virtual knockout games that followed, including Italian skulduggery to neutralise the scrum in their key encounter, and had to produce a phenomenal display of defensive grit and singlemindedness to see off the Welsh onslaught in the semifinal. Being written off in the final against England only increased their resolve and the team also rose above ridiculous attempts back home to stir up racial divisions.

The most transformed Springbok team ever:

And it produced arguably South Africa’s best ever performance at a World Cup. Captained by a Black African, with four others in the matchday squad and two more in the World Cup squad as a whole, and with five other players of colour, there was never any question of any player not being there on merit. The result was a triumph for the ages that could be genuinely celebrated by every South African, and a building block for the Springboks to become truly representative of the nation.

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