When Siya Kolisi leads out the Springboks at the Stade de Marseille on Sunday in South Africa’s opening match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup (RWC) against Scotland, it is not only in defence of the William Webb Ellis Cup as world champions.
But equally importantly they will carry the expectations and aspirations of a 60million plus rugby-mad nation clobbered in recent years by a seemingly endless cycle of economic doom and gloom, a cost of living crisis and the dark arts of near daily load shedding.
For the next two months (the final is way ahead on October 28), rugby and the fortunes of the Bokke will be the respite default for most South Africans, happy to be distracted like lemmings from their daily travails in an orgy of culinary indulgence as if possessed by our unique cultural DNA encompassing the braai, potjiekos, pap, biltong, koeksisters et al.
The rugby gods it seems must be smiling on us – whether out of pity or prescience is immaterial. The omens are good for the last time the Bokke played in a RWC final in France in 2007, John Smit’s team went on to beat England 15-6 in the final at the Stade de France, the same venue for this year’s culmination.
Lest the Boks are weighed down by the sheer expectations of a hapless nation, neither complacency nor unfettered optimism can feature in the South African psychological profile.
The Springbok camp are lucky to have three world-beating Mr Motivators – director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, head coach Jaques Nienaber and iconic captain Siya Kolisi. The stakes are indeed high.
When the Springboks lost to the All Blacks in a first round match in RWC 2019 in Japan, they had to make history by becoming the first nation to lift the World Cup after losing an opening round match.
The opener in RWC 2023 in Paris on Friday evening is a mouth-watering scorcher between the host nation France and indeed the All Blacks, demolished 35-7 by a rampant Springbok team only a fortnight earlier in a pre-tournament friendly at Twickenham – arguably one of the best performances by a Springbok team that I have seen in over 50 years of rugby action.
Herein lies the danger – beware of the wounded Kiwis, whose rugby passion, pride and tradition are second to none. Even if the All Blacks fail against a revived French team and national set up, it would be the height of folly to write them off. That is why the Boks have to make a statement of intent against the Scots – far from being a pushover. The playbook must encompass respect, resilience and resolve.
Almost three decades into post-apartheid non-racial sport, rugby has always had a special place in the South African psyche despite the misconception by some ANC radicals that it is the “sport of the apartheid oppressors”.
Steve Biko was a decent rugby player who often used the cover of a match in pursuit of his political activism in the liberation Struggle. In fact, rugby’s relatively successful transformation has only enhanced that status.
The geopolitical and socio-economic environment of RWC France 2023 compared with RWC Japan 2019 is very different.
The world bore the brunt of a once in-a-century coronavirus pandemic which affected South Africa the most in Africa, followed by the fuel and food supply chain disruptions due to the conflict in Ukraine, the resultant economic shocks of fuel and food inflation, sovereign indebtedness and its devastating impact on global cost of living, and the effects of climate change, with the developing countries most adversely affected. Thus far the recovery to a pre-Covid dispensation has been fragmented and rocky, and any normalisation may take up to a decade or so.
In the South African context, there is an added rationale and incentive for prevailing in Paris.
The question remains whether a “redemptive” sporting triumph such as winning the Rugby World Cup for a record fourth time can indeed deliver the political, social and economic dividends and “feel good” factor that both the rugby fans and the political opportunists are yearning for? What a potential boost ironically a Springbok win could be for the ANC in next year’s general election?
Rugby transformation is one of the “success stories” of South Africa’s sports transformation strategy, albeit it will remain a “work in progress” as the economic transformation and development of South Africa is always going to play a key role in true transformation of sport particularly technical codes like rugby, cricket and athletics where gym work, nutrition, kit, transport accessibility and affordability are equally important.
Rugby has also shown the way that sports transformation can transcend the need for quotas in a relatively short space of time. No one would question that the current Springbok squad is not selected on merit. The spirit of unity and togetherness is self-evident.
Four years ago at the Yokohama Rugby Stadium in November in Japan when the Springboks won the 2019 RWC demolishing England by 32-12 in the process, probably saw the last symbolic act of the Rainbow Nation’s sports transformation process of a Black South African captain Siya Kolisi for the first time ever lifting the World Cup.
That symbolism will forever be one of world sport’s iconic moments transcending beyond a mere rugby match, as important as it was for the players, to embrace the legacy, hope and aspirations of another African global icon, Nelson Mandela.
In that sense, a Springbok triumph next month will also be a victory for the rising continent, beset in recent times with the scourge of coups, corruption and conflict.
“The ‘feel good’ factor post Yokahama was real enough. In his keynote address to the Second South Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa could not resist “welcoming all our international guests to South Africa, the home of the champions of world rugby”.
The World Cup win was a rare public demonstration of the sentiment of South African-ness as a condition of a shared fate and of the possibilities and opportunities ahead, which alas have been squandered by the politicians.
This sense of South African-ness and unity of spirit could not have been more aptly put by Kolisi after that game: “We have so many problems in our country, but a team like this ... we come from different backgrounds, different races, but we came together with one goal and we wanted to achieve it. I have never seen South Africa like this.
We were playing for the people back home. We can achieve anything if we work together as one.”
South Africans love success, and if rugby delivers it, rugby gains even greater status, support and prominence. Siya, the oval ball is literally in the Springbok court. Bokke, your nation expects. Just give it your best shot and enjoy the occasion. Vive La Springboks!
Parker is a writer based in London
Cape Times