This is a new team, built on diversity and talent which is, above all, united.
The Springbok team in a huddle during their World Cup match against Ireland at the weekend. Picture: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
One of the most abiding images of this Rugby World Cup will surely be that of the Springbok and Tongan teams linking hands, forming a circle and praying after their hard-fought encounter on Sunday night. More than any song or schmaltzy marketing campaign, the moment personified the idea of a true “world in union” brought about by a sporting contest … a struggle in which no quarter was asked, or given, by either side, but in which the battle transcended so many things.
More than any song or schmaltzy marketing campaign, the moment personified the idea of a true “world in union” brought about by a sporting contest … a struggle in which no quarter was asked, or given, by either side, but in which the battle transcended so many things.It was about a shared triumph – a victory over distance, over differences of culture and ethnicity.
These are not the dour, primitive, unemotional, unimaginative men their detractors would like to think they are. These are men who will just as easily go to war as to a braai together.They are an example of what we could be, as a nation, if we recognise that our strength lies in our diversity.
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