Thirty years ago, the Springbok team irrevocably changed the face of South Africa. The image of a Bok jersey, emblazoned with the No 6, on the back of State President Nelson Manela cheering as another No 6, Francois Pienaar, held up the Webb Ellis trophy sent the country into raptures, and created one of the most iconic moments in South African rugby history that lives on.
But 30 years on, just how has South African rugby fared? Are we better off because of the 1995 moment? Or was it just a moment in time that will be remembered in highlights reels and documentaries for the foreseeable future?
There is no doubt that it was one of those moments that captured the thrill of a nation and showed South Africa just what sport can do. How a country fractured by politics and division can unite for something beautiful.
To many who will read this, the moment is but a highlight reel - those under 35 - as current Springbok captain Siya Kolisi reminded us just days after his 34th birthday - are too young to remember the moment.
1995 ROLLER COASTER RIDE TO THE FINAL
For those who lived through it, who were lucky enough to be there, and who celebrated afterwards in the streets and neighbourhoods it was something that will live with them forever.
They will remember the exhilaration when Pieter Hendricks rounded possibly the finest winger of the 80s and early 90s - David Campese to give the Boks the perfect start to the tournament. They will remember the clutter and talk around Chester Williams, the only player of colour in the team and how he became the biggest drawcard for the Boks, signifying change that hadn’t completely happened.
They will remember the Battle of Boet Erasmus, the infamous fight with Canada in now Gqeberha where two Boks were sent off in a fight that nearly cost them the World Cup, or Williams’ four-try masterful game against Western Samoa that catapulted the Boks into the semifinals.
They will remember the rain, the cleaners and rugby officials “sweeping” a drenched King’s Park in Durban and the inches that the Boks had in stopping Abdelatif Benazzi from scoring in monsoon conditions to send them into the final.
They will remember the heart-stopping performance of the “big fella” - Jonah Lomu - as he changed rugby with a four-try stomping of England (poor Mike Catt!) on a Sunday afternoon in Cape Town.
STOPPING LOMU
And they will remember the final. An extra-time drop goal fest where the Boks edged themselves home to the tune of PJ Powers and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a boeing that flew way too low over the stadium and the way the team stopped Lomu and the All Blacks in their tracks.
It was a rugby fever dream, one that masked the problems across both the country and rugby landscape. But it was a moment in time that will live forever.
Now, 30 years later, the country still struggles with so many aspects, but rugby has flourished. And while it wasn’t a perfect process, with loads of mistakes made along the way, the Boks have changed the face of SA sport forever, with the Rainbow Nation now Double World Cup champions, the No 1 team in the world and a team for all South Africans.
I remarked the other day quite flippantly how stupid those times were during apartheid, for the mere fact that South African rugby didn’t tap into the rich tapestry of talent at its disposal. That the proud Green and Gold jersey wasn’t meant for so many and had a different meaning for the majority of this country.
MANDELA MOMENT HAS CHANGED
The Mandela moment changed that. It embraced the good, bad and ugly of SA Rugby warts and all, and through a painful process of change, the Bok jersey truly belongs to everyone in 2025.
Kolisi was asked by a French journalist this past week about the legacy of 1995, and what it meant in 2025. And his answer was simple, but powerful.
“I was four when it happened, so don’t remember it but obviously I've seen videos, and I've seen the impact that it's done for our country. Not only in Rugby, but in South Africa in general, we all know.
“I think that's why people look up to the team, or look to the team so much, because of what happened in 1995. I think it also started the winning for South Africa, in difficult circumstances, and it also showed the spirit of South African people - especially when the Durban game was not cancelled, how people found ways to make sure that the field was right for the team to play.
“And I think the way this team is today, I think the way it represents South Africa, I think many of the people that wanted things to move forward in South Africa will be very proud of how it's been, and I think we don't take for granted what we're going to feel.
“It's changed in a way that everybody is trying to get access to rugby, and make it easier in communities, and I've seen it. I come from a rugby-playing community, and kids are excited, they still come, the kids are excited, they want to play this sport, and it's growing more and more, and I think it's been great that people feel represented in the team, which is amazing.”
It’s hard not to draw comparisons to Mandela’s dream and Kolisi leading the Boks to double World Cups in the same jersey. South African rugby now draws on the full array of talent from its ranks - and in the last decade has really got it right.
RACE OUT OF THE CONVERSATION
It took a coach with vision and more importantly trust to remove the ugly stereotype of the horribly named “quotas” out of the equation. Rassie Erasmus did more than that, he took the debate about colour out of the conversation. While World Cups are the measure of rugby success, that may be the greatest achievement of any South African since Mandela in uniting the country.
And it would be easy to concentrate just on the on-field success, but off-field SA Rugby deserves heaps of credit as well. Rugby matches across the country - from schools to club to professional games, for the most part, look representative of the diversity of the nation. The elite schools, who spend so much money propping up the system, are unrecognisable by diversity from 30 years ago.
While sporting conversations will always be contentious about player selections, the spectre of why players are selected is gone. We are a country of endless possibilities, from the physicality of the forwards to the dancing feet of speedy wingers that were previously deemed to small. From the grit of those who, like Makazole Mapimpi, have fought their way up from nothing to the clutch kicking of Handre Pollard.
The new-faced talents of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse and from the Beast to the Spicy Plum to the cake-loving Ox in the scrums. Rugby is a game for all shapes and sizes, and the Springboks have a player for all tastes and preferences.
EMBRACE OF SISTA BETTINA AND GWIJO
But the game has changed in more ways than just that. It is the fact that the same anthem that was a divisive point on re-entry into rugby in 1992, where the same Ellis Park stadium sang Die Stem in defiance of the political bosses and almost demolished return to international rugby, now embraces the new anthem.
Every single version performed before a test match is viral gold on youtube. The passion of the Impi entrance is synonymous with the core fight of South Africans on a daily basis, whatever their background.
The embrace of Sista Bettina as an unofficial Bok anthem perhaps surprised many, but was part of the changing face of our stadiums. The emergence of the Gwijo Squad, gwijo culture and songs like Mntaka Mama, or Thina Siyazalana or the Wynberg High School war cry “Hoya” are part of our everyday rugby culture and we’re richer for it.
In the past the rugby derbies of Bulls v Stormers, Paul Roos v Paarl Gim, Tuks v Maties were our rugby rivalries. Nowadays University of Fort Hare v Walter Sisulu University, Klein Nederburg v New Orleans, Port Rex v Hudson and Roses United v Hillcrest sit alongside these passionate clashes.
RUGBY CULTURE HAS EXPANDED FOR ALL
Our rugby culture has expanded, documentaries like Chasing the Sun lifted the lid on the personal struggles of the Springboks and our heroes are a mixture of pigments and backgrounds, a mengelmoes (as Afrikaners would say) of passion and grit and determination. For the first time we understand each other in a deeper way than just on the rugby field and rugby has changed that.
South African rugby has come a long way since 1995. We’re more united as a rugby nation, we are more focused and professional after 30 years of rugby and when the Boks play we stand united across the great spectrum of our country.
We embrace differences rather than reject them, and there will always be some that try to buck the trend and look to exploit that. Take a look at any Springbok test match now compared to 30 years ago and not only have times changed, but everything else as well.
On this 30th anniversary it is necessary to honour the 1995 World Cup squad for what they embraced and the journey they started. From Tata Madiba to Francois Pienaar to Chester Williams and the weight of a nation he carried on his shoulders, to the heroics of Mapimpi, Lukhanyo Am, Cheslin Kolbe and others.
From Kobus Wiese to Eben Etzebeth, Os du Randt to Ox Nche, James Dalton to Bongi Mbonambi, the list goes on.
In 1995 Andre Joubert played with a broken hand in the final, and the Boks stopped the most potent rugby player the planet has ever seen to create a magical moment that lives with us forever.
It was a prelude to the struggles that were only overcome through determination and the fighting spirit that is South Africa, a country that will always surprise its doubters.
The 1995 slogan of One Team, One Country for the World Cup campaign was replaced with Stronger Together in 2019, and Stronger Forever in 2023. And if you doubt that, go do yourself a favour and watch some of the magnificent talent at Schools and Varsity level from all backgrounds on any given Saturday.
Madiba’s cheering face, the joy of it all captured the spirit of 1995 and will always be special. But what South African rugby has become in 30 years since would have been his dream.
The Rainbow Nation is now truly Stronger Together and this crop of Springboks keep on proving that.