Enlarge imageBy Julian Linden
PARIS (Reuters) - An emotionally-charged meeting with members of the South African team that won the 1995 World Cup has provided the Springboks with an extra dose of inspiration before Saturday’s final with England.
Francois Pienaar, the captain of the triumphant 1995 team that beat New Zealand in that epic clash at Johannesburg, presented the current squad with their match jerseys before Friday’s final training session at the Stade de France.
Joel Stransky, who kicked the winning drop goal in extra-time that decided the match, also spoke to the players along with other members of the team and the manager Morne du Plessis.
"Morne du Plessis was the guy who spoke first and then Francois Pienaar spoke and alongside him were Joel Stransky, Balie Swart, James Small and Chris Rossouw. So yeah, that was a pretty special event," skipper John Smit told a news conference.
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"It was exactly the same format as the other jersey presentations, where the team sits in our team room, and whoever’s presenting the jerseys stands in the front and gives a couple of words.
"But this one was a little more special than others and pretty personal so it’s probably not for me to talk about here, but yeah, it was pretty good."
The Springboks’ 1995 World Cup victory is widely regarded as South Africa’s greatest sporting achievement and members of the team are revered in their homeland.
South Africa have failed to add to their maiden title from 1995 but go into Saturday’s final as overwhelming favourites to beat England after crushing the defending champions 36-0 in the pool stage.
Smit said it was impossible to compare his team to the 1995 side because of their unique achievement but hoped his squad would write their own piece of history.
"There’s a whole bunch of cliches that I could throw out, such as ’there’s no such thing as best’ and all that nonsense, but the fact of the matter is that the 1995 paved the way," Smit said.
"It was almost like breaking the four-minute mile for the first time, they just paved the way for everyone else to do what they can do.
"There’ll always be the first chapter of World Cup rugby in South Africa, which will be 1995, and tomorrow night will be a chance for us to try and create chapter two."
