THE SOUTH AFRICA-NEW ZEALAND CHALLENGE ON 15 AUGUST 1992 TO CELEBRATE THE END OF APARTHEID – SportHistoria

A stage of the All Blacks-Springbocks challenge – from:thetimes.co.uk

Article by Giovanni Manenti

Between the at the end of the 80s and the beginning of the following decade of the 20th century many upheavals occurred to modify a status quo who had reigned for a large part of that period, first in chronological order the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 to witness the reunification of Germany into a single state, after the birth of East Germany following the conclusion of the Second World War…

In the February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released in Cape Town after serving 27 years of imprisonmentLeader of the African National Congress, for his fight against the abolition of racial segregation in his country, sadly known as apartheid.

A fine December 1991 the most politically important event occurs, namely the disintegration of the Soviet Empire and the consequent regained autonomy of the individual Republics that made up the former USSR, a substantially bloodless split unlike what happens the following year in Yugoslavia, with the differences resulting in an ethnic conflict enough to cause over 100 thousand civilian and military casualties…

In March of the same year, in South Africa, President Frederik de Klerk officially announces the end of apartheida circumstance which also puts an end to the veto imposed by the IOC on the nation’s participation in the Olympics – in force from 1964 to 1988 – so that the Barcelona Games which take place from 25 July to 9 August 1992, South Africa can field a delegation of 93 athleteseven though the loot collected is truly paltry, with only two silver medals.

But if the readmission into the Olympic panorama is seen more as a success of a political nature than a sporting one, the situation is different with regards to the South African national sport, namely Rugby which, in that period, had suffered from failure to participate in the first two editions of the World Cup who had seen the respective triumphs of their southern hemisphere rivals, namely New Zealand in 1987 and Australia in 1991…

The All Blacks themselves had constituted the “stone of scandal” being went on tour to South Africa in the summer of 1976, a few days after the tragic student protest in Soweto, bloodily repressed by the policea circumstance that had pushed the other African countries to ask the IOC to prevent the participation of New Zealand athletes in the Montreal Games and, upon refusal, they boycotted the event with the athletes leaving Canada in the imminence of the Opening Ceremony.

It therefore seems entirely logical that there could not be better event to celebrate the end of apartheid than organizing a test match between the two national teams – who had not met since the Springbocks Tour to New Zealand in the summer of 1981 – for which The date of 15 August 1992 was set at the “Ellis Park” in Johannesburg

A rivalry, the rugby one between the two countries, born way back in 1921, when on August 13th the first official match between the two teams took place in Dunedin that New Zealand won 13-5, only to suffer, two weeks later, the South African revenge 9-5 and, since then, the tally of matches up to the aforementioned Ferragosto 1992 reads 20 victories for the Springbocks, 15 for the All Blacks and two matches ended in a draw.

This match represents the last match of the All Blacks Tour, who they had previously met on three occasions the reigning World Champions Australia, being defeated 16-15 on 4 July in Sydney and 19-17 on the 19th in Brisbane, while on July 25th again in Sydney the victory was won by New Zealand 26-23…

To drive South Africa sits on the bench John Williams, one of the veterans of theoffending matches” from 1976in which he took the field in the 16-7 success on 24 July (just as the Opening Ceremony of the Games was taking place in Montreal…) and in the 9-15 defeat suffered on the following 14 August.

It therefore seems almost a sign of destiny that exactly 16 years after this last circumstance the two national teams find themselves facing each other, even though the city is different, Bloemfontein at the time and Johannesburg now and, in any case, precisely because of the isolation to which South Africa was forced, the coach is forced to field a lineup with 9 debutants, to which a tenth is added when Heinrich Fuls takes over from James Small at the end of the race…

On the other hand, after the 16-6 defeat against Australia in the semi-final of the 1991 World Cup, the New Zealand has entrusted the technical guidance to former All Black fullback Laurie Mainsdestined to remain in office until the conclusion of the next edition of the World Cup, who presents a revolutionized XV in Johannesburg, with only 7 players returning from the aforementioned world championship setbackeven though none of those taking the field are rookies.

For the occasion the scenery is spectacular, with 72 thousand spectators filling the stands of the “Ellis Park”, also facilitated by the splendid sunny day when the Australian Race Director Alexander MacNeill commands the start of the meeting which, as logic dictates, initially struggles to take off…

The best chances of breaking the deadlock lie with their respective fly-halves with as many free kicks, but while Grant Fox sends the oval between the posts, the South African Captain Naas Botha his attempt fails, but Fox is also not free from errors and a subsequent free kick, from a considerable distance, does not hit the target, unlike an insistent action by the All Blacks resulting in a goal by Zinzan Brooke at the end of the first half of the gamewhich allows the New Zealanders to go to the break with a score of 10-0 in their favor, thanks to Fox’s conversion.

The home team was held scoreless for the first 40 minutes broke the deadlock at the start of the second half thanks to a free kick converted by Botha with a bit of luck, as the oval hits the inside of the upright before finishing its run between the posts, only to tease the New Zealanders who immediately increase the advantage thanks to an excellent hand move which sees Frank Bunce serve the ball to winger John Kirwan to deposit in the goal in a central positionso as to allow the easiest of transformations for Fox for the partial of 17-3 when we reached the 50th minute…

With less than half an hour available to try to rebalance the outcome of the match, the Spingbocks seem on the verge of collapse when the margin widened to 20-3 due to another placed goal scored by Foxbut perhaps excessive confidence plays a bad trick on the All Blacks, who they concede an all-too-easy try to Danie Gerber, converted by Bothaso that, suddenly the public of “Ellis Park” regains courage and pushes his favorites to comeback.

Hopes that suffer a heavy blow just 3′ later, when it is the fullback John Timu to find an opening along the right out to go and smash towards the goal at the height of the flag and since, despite the secluded position, Fox succeeds in the transformation, that’s it the 17-point lead (27-10) is re-established with less than 20′ still available…

Never trust too much, however, in South African pride, which they immediately waste a very favorable opportunity with Small who, launched alone towards the goal, incredibly lets the oval slip from his handwhile on the other front this time Fox misses a free kick which would have brought the All Blacks to +20, which is the largest margin in the matches against the Springbocks up to that moment, given that the record has been held since 20-3 on September 18, 1965 ad Auckland.

The averted danger gives new energy to the South African attacks which succeed go for a power try with Pieter Muller converted by Botha, but now there are just 4 minutes left to play and victory for New Zealand it’s a done deal, even if the home team’s combativeness comes to an end rewarded in time with a third goal of the day again scored by Gerber, so that once Botha’s transformation took place the final score sees the All Blacks victorious by just 3 points, 27-24 …

Although defeated, for the Springbocks the performance represents the first step towards the construction of the national team which three years later, when South Africa was called to organize the third edition of the World Cup, won the title by beating 15-12 New Zealand in extra time.

Curiosity, do you know who is the only South African player fresh from the challenge just mentioned to be fielded in the World Championship Final…?? You won’t believe it, but It’s James Small, the one who let the oval slip out of his hands a few meters from the goal line had perhaps prevented that victory…

When it comes to destiny…

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2023-10-26 18:09:09
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