Johnathan Paoli
South Africans, young and old, black and white braved the cold and wet weather on Tuesday and gathered in large numbers at the OR Tambo International Airport in Joburg, to welcome back home their Rugby World Cup champions after the Springbok’s historical win overNew Zealand in France on Saturday.
Spotting the green and gold colours, the masses thronged the airport waving flags and singing songs and slogans in support of the national team.
The Springboks beat New Zealand last Saturday in the final held in Paris, and secured its fourth consecutive championship win since the memorable win in 1995 under former President Nelson Mandela and Frans Pienaar as captain.
The victory over the All Blacks, makes the Springboks as one of the only two national teams to win back-to-back Webb Ellis trophies and the only national team to win the World Cup on four occasions.
Chants of “Siya” and “Rassie” were prominent as the team captain, Siya Kolisi ran in, hoisted the trophy to show those gathered to celebrate their return.
Holding signs reading “Bokke, a bunch of winners”, with music blaring in the background, an atmosphere of jubilation was created by means of the national anthem and “Shosholoza”.
At the media briefing, Kolisi spoke about the importance of the Springbok’s victory for South Africa as a whole.
“We always play for South Africa but we wanted to make sure that this one is for the people of South Africa. This one is for every single person in South Africa – rich, poor… it doesn’t matter.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from because the team that we have is a very diverse team, which is very beautiful as well, we all come from very different walks of life,” Kolisi said.
The team is expected to embark on a four-day trophy tour that begins on Thursday as it passes Pretoria, Johannesburg and Soweto and then head to Cape Town, Durban and East London.
On Monday evening in his address to the nation, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared 15 December as a Public Holiday to celebrate the victory of the Springboks and other sporting codes that have been doing extremely well in the international sporting arena.
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