Johannesburg - A victory for the Springboks, but also a triumph for the whole of South Africa.
That’s how Jean de Villiers summed up his team’s epic 27-25 win over the All Blacks at a packed Ellis Park on Saturday.
Having come close on numerous occasions in the last three years, the Boks finally got over the line after a dramatic and heart-stopping win to end their Rugby Championship campaign on a high. Pat Lambie’s late penalty from well over 50 metres out reminded one of Morné Steyn’s final penalty to seal the deal against the British and Irish Lions at Loftus Versfeld in 2009, while the scenes at Ellis Park were reminiscent of that day in June 1995 when the Boks beat New Zealand to win the World Cup final.
The jumping for joy by the players when referee Stuart Barnes blew a penalty for the Boks after 80 minutes were up, to see the hosts to victory, also reminded one of Francois Pienaar and Co leaping into the air all of 19 years ago.
Of course, this was not a World Cup final and there was not that much riding on the result - the Rugby Championship was wrapped up by New Zealand the week before, but for the Bok players and coaching staff, and the fans, it was everything.
South Africa needed a win against their biggest rivals; and the Boks delivered.
“The atmosphere was just awesome. Seeing all the fans en-route to the stadium was so inspiring,” said De Villiers after the match. “Everyone sang Nkosi (sikele iafrika) from start to finish; I had tears in my eyes. This team means so much to this country and I’m so glad we could give them the win,” said De Villiers, showing that after more than 100 Tests for his country he can still get choked up about his team and what South Africa means to him.
“It’s a great feeling for us (to give this to South Africa)... the hard work paid off. The last couple of games between these two great teams have been colossal; the match in Wellington could have gone our way, this one could have gone their way. What these two teams produce on the field is great for the game, but the brand of rugby they’re playing is ever better.
“We’ve believed for a long time we’re good enough to beat the All Blacks and finally we’ve shown it’s possible. It was a box we wanted to tick and now we’ve done it.”
Bok boss Heyneke Meyer praised his team’s tactical prowess in a devastating first-half display, which saw the Boks score three tries and then defend superbly in the second half. “It’s such a relief to finally beat them,” said Meyer. “Credit to all the players and the coaching team, but a huge amount of thanks must go to the fans. The support has been unbelievable.
“These matches are always on a knife-edge and I thought we learnt from our mistakes in the previous games. We showed great composure to pull this one through.”
There was plenty of praise from the All Blacks, whose 22-match unbeaten run finally came to an end. Kiwi coach Steve Hansen said he felt the Boks deserved the win.
“I just want to congratulate the Boks on their win, I thought it was a great game of rugby again, and maybe it could have gone either way,” Hansen said.
“But my heart tells me that probably the Boks deserved it today and we didn’t start the game well enough and they put us under a lot of pressure and got away to a good start.”
“Well done to the Boks, I think they are well overdue for the win, so you people can get off Heyneke’s back now,” he said.
“But our guys showed a lot of composure and heart.
“I will reiterate that the right team won, but having said that we’re still bloody proud and would have been happy had we snuck it.
“The thing that makes me proud the most is that they never gave up.”
Cape Times