Johannesburg - South Africans often feel at risk of drowning in a sea of adversity. It’s something that doesn’t become any easier with the waves of bad news that bash around our heads; tales of hardship, cruelty, grief – and the selfishness of those who style themselves our leaders.
But it isn’t all like that. There can be no denying the hero’s journey that Siya Kolisi has trod, not just from Zwide to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy in Japan four years ago but over a remarkable 119 days of pain and hope.
The injury he suffered in April should have ruled him out of the Rugby World Cup and much of next year, too. Many speak of a miracle, but they discount the calibre of the man and the fire that drove him to make a comeback, fitter and stronger at the sport’s greatest showpiece, than he was before.
The squad he leads in France is perhaps our greatest example of what can be achieved when there is a plan, a group of committed leaders, and a team of equally dedicated members working together for a common aim. The Springboks have won the trophy three times. They stand on the cusp of sporting immortality if they can successfully defend their title and lift the cup a historic fourth time.
Like all other South African institutions, this team has its own unfortunate legacy, a past of exclusion and discrimination. What is significant is how it has dealt with that and set new standards for global excellence in the process. Other South African institutions have had the same 30 years and the same opportunity, only to squander it.
In fact, if you take that as the metric for success, then we have already won – irrespective of whether Siya and the Boks bring the trophy home.
But we truly hope they do – starting tomorrow night against Scotland!