The blood of South African Sport - Rugby.

WRITTEN BY SHARANYA RAMESH

ROLL NUMBER 3760

To put it simply, Rugby is to South Africa, what Cricket is to India. Rugby can easily be considered one of the forces that bought together South Africa after the vast period of Apartheid. When the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup on home turf in 1995, Nelson Mandela, donned the No 6 shirt of the team's captain - Francois Pienaar, a white Afrikaner - and the two embraced in a spontaneous gesture of racial reconciliation that melted hearts around the country. A single moment, and 400 years of colonial strife and bitterness, suddenly seemed so petty. That is what Rugby means to many South Africans.

What makes Rugby even more special to the South Africans is that before 1994, Rugby was almost exclusively a white man’s game. After Nelson Mandela took the reins, he converted the team into a mix of both black and white, encouraging the citizens of SA (both black and white) to come together to cheer on their union team. The Springboks, the dream team in their green and gold jackets is the union rugby team of South Africa. The Boks have an outstanding international score sheet, and for many years enjoyed a winning record against all other nations, until a slight slump in performances after South Africa's return from international isolation in 1992. However, ask any South African their favourite Rugby moment and they are sure to tell you that it is when the Springboks made it through to the final at Ellis Park where, spurred on by a frenzied home crowd, and with the whole of South Africa willing them on, they trumped the All Blacks 15-12 in extra time to lift the sport's most coveted trophy.

For many years, the biggest rivalry in internal rugby was between the Western Province and the Blue Bulls. During the early to mid-1990s this was superseded by a three-way rivalry between Natal, the Lions and Western Province. The teams fought for the much coveted, Currie Cup. The Currie Cup, the premier provincial rugby competition in South Africa, was first contested in 1892. The format of the Currie Cup varied from year to year, and finals were held intermittently until 1968, after which the final became an annual event.

Another important cup that the South African rugby teams compete for is the Vodacom Cup. The Vodacom Cup has become an important competition on the South African rugby calendar. It takes place at the same time as the Super 14 competition - starting in late February and finishing in mid-May - and thus creates a platform for talented young players who might otherwise not get a chance to make their mark.It has also been a fertile breeding ground for strong players from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, thanks to the enforcement of quotas. Quotas, successfully implemented lower down, now extend through the higher levels of South African rugby, including the Super 14.

However, what interests me the most about Rugby is that it is one of the few topics that every South African apparently seems to agree upon. Talk politics and history, you might not have a friend in every South African, but talk sports, especially Rugby and you have a friend. Rugby has done what a lot of leaders and politicians have considered impossible. It has bought a nation together.