When I was growing up, rugby was emblematic in many ways of hard, tough masculinities. Playing rugby was part of the rites of passage from boyhood to manhood – and it’s no accident in South Africa that rugby is a very rough sport. When I was growing up, rugby was emblematic in many ways of hard.
Perhaps too much self-worth as South Africans is intertwined with the Boks’ fortunes. But it’s because they are a symbol of success, of a path that broader society could have chosen, and could still choose. It’s a heavy burden for those 33 young men to carry, but they carry it proudly and with.
And so it has come to pass, as inevitably as the Seine’s waters flowing under the Pont Neuf. Next weekend, on Sunday night, the Boks will be the most unwelcome visitors in France.