The Webb Ellis Cup, the trophy for which teams compete at the Rugby World Cup. Picture: YouTube
Memories of Rugby World Cups past will be swirling around South Africans’ heads as the 2019 tournament gathers momentum in Japan.
Superstitious Springbok fans will have told anyone who will listen that the Webb Ellis Cup has a regular, 12-year, habit of coming to rest in South Africa. It did so in 1995, then again in 2007 … so who knows?
It is going to take a lot more than superstition for South Africa to win this World Cup, though.
This is probably the strongest line-up – and most uncertain final result – in the tournament’s 32-year history. The All Blacks may be favourites, but the era of the New Zealanders merely showing up to win is over.
The Irish, Wales and England are all serious contenders – and determined to prove northern hemisphere rugby can be winning rugby.
Australia’s biggest asset is the element of surprise. They are capable of pulling rabbits out of hats when needed. Ditto with France, the mercurial Europeans who have humbled many teams in the past.
And let’s not forget our colleagues on the other side of the Atlantic, the Argentinians, who play with a passion so strong it should be bottled and sold.
Then there are the Boks. As it was in 1995 – in that magical time of “Rainbow Nation” hope – the 2019 side is also greater than the sum of its parts.
That’s not meant in a disrespectful way, but to emphasise that they play as a team and how unity is a powerful “force multiplier”.
Rassie Erasmus and the coaching staff have shown what can be done with realistic planning, discipline and passion – and a bit of luck.
Those are qualities the country in general needs right now. And we need to bring this Cup home to remind ourselves that the South African dream still lives.
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