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1995: Good times

Great things happened in those 10 years. And they happened in rugby with great speed.

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1989: South Africa played two Tests against a World XV after a decade in which there were nine Tests against individual countries, the last against England in 1984.

1990: Political parties were unbanned as a prelude to democracy in South Africa

1992: Rugby in South Africa formed a politically acceptable unity and Tests were played against New Zealand and Australia, France and England, one won, four lost.

1992: The International Rugby Board, at its meeting in Wellington, New Zealand, asked South Africa to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup

1994: General elections

1995: The third Rugby World Cup kicked off on 25 May with the Final on 24 June.

There was then no bidding process for the World Cup; the IRB decided. It's different now. The host nations for 2015 and 2019 World Cups bid won a bid and were announced in 2009 and the 2023 host nation will be announced in 2017. They have a longer time to prepare than South Africa had in 1995!

South Africa's path to the World Cup was no a smooth one. Danie Craven died in 1993, Ebrahim Patel, his successor  as Executive president, resigned in 1994 and Louis Luyt took over. South Africa's playing record was poor – a home series lost to France, and away series lost to Australia and then New Zealand. The coach, Ian McIntosh was dropped in 1994 and in his stead came Kitch Christie, a cancer sufferer. South Africa overcame all of this and more besides to end, after 31 matches, on 25 June 1995 with the biggest, most joyous party the country has ever known.

It was not all plain sailing. There was rain for the opening luncheon in Constantia and a subtropical storm in Durban for a semifinal. The lights failed in Port Elizabeth, where there was fighting and two Springboks were, tellingly, suspended. There was the catastrophic injury to Max Brito of Côte D'Ivoire, there were arguments – Luyt vs Sir Ewart Bell, an Ulsterman who had played for Ireland and who was chairman of the Rugby World Cup, and Luyt vs Marcel Martin, a Frenchman on the IRB. There were complaints afterwards about Louis Luyt's speech. But in the end none of that mattered. What mattered was what the Springboks achieved and how South Africans reacted.

There where was nobody in South Africa who did not know that the Rugby World Cup was taking place. The team, the country, were buoyed along by what Morné du Plessis called "the surge of the nation". One Team, One Country.

It started in tears. I sat at Newlands for the opening match, when South Africa played Australia, the champions in 1991. Newlands was full, the weather was lovely and Merle McKenna's wonderful opening ceremony was on the go. I realised there were tears in my eyes. I looked around at the men near  me and every one had tears in his eyes. It was as if the cruel past was being washed away in the proud realisation: We can do it.

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And do it the Springboks did. It started with Pieter Hendricks and his gesture of triumphant defiance. Australia were leading 13-9 when Japie Mulder sent a long pass to Hendricks on the left wing and he beat the great David Campese on the outside, raising his fist as he headed for a try. Eventually, as Joel Stransky scored in all four rugby ways – try, conversion, penalty and drop – the Springboks led 27-13 and eventually won 27-18 as Phil Kearns ended with a try. For South Africa, the World Cup was made.

The 1995 World Cup was the first in one country – one spread-out country. Suddenly there were matches all over – Bloemfontein, Stellenbosch, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth. Rustenburg and Durban, Johannesburg and East London, but sparkling South African eyes were firmly fixed on the Springboks. The win over the Wallabies meant that they were likely to win their pool, which they did with a drab win over Romania and then an ugly one over Canada in Port Elizabeth where the kick-off was delayed because the lights failed. They came on and the match went ahead but in it there was an ugly fight which ended when James Dalton and Canada's Gareth Rees were sent off. Later Dalton was suspended and so was Hendricks. That became a sword of Damocles in Durban.

The winners of their pool the Springboks went on to play Samoa in a spiteful quarterfinal at Ellis Park, which had the bright side of Chester Williams's four tries and the dark side of injury to André Joubert, Joost van der Westhuizen and Mark Andrews. That made for the anxious semifinal in Durban.

Durban in June – the best time of the year in Natal, a lovely time to spend on the beach. The other semifinal was at Newlands, the wettest part of South Africa, in midwinter in the winter rain area. But it turned out to be a glorious day at Newlands while the rain bucketed down in Durban and nearly led to the cancellation of the match.

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Had it been cancelled France would have gone into the final for its superior disciplinary record against the suspensions of Dalton and Hendricks.

It certainly was a day to remember – the women with brooms trying to sweep the standing water off the field, the delayed kick-off, the arguments between Luyt and Martin, the Frenchman. Martin wanted the referee, Derek Bevan, to call the match off; South African Luyt wanted the match to happen. Regular weather bulletins were sent the ground, as the crowd sat in the wet and journalists could not write a wet word.

Eventually the players came onto the field and the match started, bizarre in the standing water and thrilling beyond the norm.

Van der Westhuizen charged down a kick and the forwards smashed in, water flying, and the referee awarded a try to Ruben Kruger. Thierry Lacroix and Joel Stransky kicked to score and the Springboks led 19-15 at the death, when suddenly hearts dropped.

Joubert, wearing a special glove on a left hand broken against Samoa, dropped the ball – his only error on that mad evening. The French went charging in. Big Abdelatiff Benazzi grabbed the ball and plunged for the line as James Small smashed into him. The referee decided that the athletic Frenchman was just short and awarded a scrum. Kobus Wiese said to Balie Swart, lock to prop mate: "You can go up and you can go down but you are not going an inch back."

The Springboks held out and when Stransky was given the ball, he hoofed it out. The gleeful Springboks were in the Final, not the distraught French.

The other finalists were decided at Newlands in about four minutes which was when Jonah Lomu got the ball.

And so to the Final, the dream Final – Springboks vs All Blacks, rugby's greatest rivalry and this time with the World Cup at stake.

You had to be at Ellis Park on that afternoon to have any idea of what it was like, this the greatest rugby moment South Africa has known. There was buzz of excitement as the crowd surged into Ellis Park and filled it. There was the music, Merle McKenna's delightful closing ceremony, the arrival of Nelson Mandela in a Springbok jersey and wearing a Springbok cap, the most venerated man in the world at home with his people, "my Springboks".

After the President had arrived to a crowd chanting Nelson, Nelson, one of the President's men sought out Louis Luyt to tell him that the President had left his jersey at home. Luyt scurried around, found another jersey and somebody to stitch on the 6 and sent it to the President. And nobody was any the wiser.

Suddenly a Boeing Jumbo wooshed over the stadium with GOOD LUCK BOKKE across the underside of its wings.

It was a match befitting the occasion and the history of contest between the two. The All Blacks dominated the line-outs while the Springboks dominated the scrums and tackled decisively. The All Blacks had the fearful figure of Jonah Lomu who had so destroyed England in the semifinal. He was close down the left but Japie Mulder tackled him out near the corner. He burst don midfield but Joost van der Westhuizen tackled him and then it was Joel Stransky as the Springboks shoved each other out of the way to get to him.

The Springboks who played in that match all believe that Ruben Kruger scored a try in a bundle at the line and Ruben Kruger believed it, too. There was a pass to Stransky that was ruled forward and Chester Williams, James Small and stately André Joubert were close.

But there were no tries. The boot ruled and Andrew Mehrtens scored first, 3-0 became 3-3, 6-3, 6-6, 9-06 and then 9-9, and it was full time. Ten minutes each way, the first extra time in a World Cup Final.

Mehrtens goaled and then Stransky goaled. 12-12.

Time was running out when the Springboks attacked down the right. There was a scrum to them. From the scrum Joost passed back to Joel and the flyhalf kicked a soaring dropped goal that flew over the posts, the greatest dropped goal in Springbok history.

The Springboks came back on the attack and a knock-on brought the final whistle and the delight of the nation.

The crowd screamed with delight, the players knelt in prayer, an instinctive coming together of players at the end of a tense four-year campaign and a tough Final. The relief was immense and the players, led by Francois Pienaar, thanked God for the opportunity and the success, and in every corner of the country people ran around in sheer delight, dancing in the streets.

Then there was the presentation – the President to his Captain, both wearing the No.6 jersey, the love and pride in both their eyes. The President thanked the Captain, who in turn thanked the President for all he had done for the country. And when an interviewer asked the Captain, what it was like to have 65 000 behind his team, the inspired Captain said: "There were not 65 thousand people supporting us today. There were 43 million."

And when I stopped hugging my son, I knew there were again tears in my eyes, happy tears of wonder and hope.

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