Pienaar on point

South African rugby hero reflects on his career, the game

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Posted: Friday October 01, 1999 08:44 AM

Francois Pienaar: "I love my country. I'll definitely come back to South Africa one day." Alex Livesey/Allsport

When South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship, the captain of the that team was Francois Piennar. He chronicles those experiences and more in a new autobiographical book entitled "Rainbow Warrior." Piennar says he sees the center of rugby shifting northward and he adds South Africa is in danger of losing faith in the ideals that carried the day in its post-Apartheid era. From London, Piennar talked with CNN/SI's Riz Khan.

Riz Kahn : Considering how active you are in sports, what about the timing of this book? It seems you have stirred up quite a few wasp nests here, so what's been the results of that?

Francois Pienaar : Well there are just so many stories to be told. And when I arrived in England, I didn't think I had a powerful story. But a lot of people said, "You've got to write a book." They made a lot of sense. It's a book about my upbringing. Playing sports in South Africa where we are a sport-crazy nation. Playing in the Apartheid era and then playing in the democracy. The power of rugby in South Africa, unifying the county over the space of six weeks was absolutely amazing and I experienced that. Secondly, playing amateur rugby and then professional rugby and the transgression from amateur to professionalism. And then moving abroad and playing in a different culture and under different circumstances in England.

RK : Winning that Cup four years ago was such a turning point for your team in South Africa. Is the memory still as strong?

FP : I never experienced something like that in my life. And a lot of people in South Africa neither. In South Africa before the Rugby World Cup in the townships, a Francois Pienaar would have been a nobody off the Rugby World Cup. Not only myself but a lot of the players that played in the Rugby World Cup. Their pictures were on the walls of black kids in the townships. And that was incredible. It took only six weeks for that to happen. Incredible memories of that day and a special day for all of South Africa.

RK : Given the fact that South Africa was the host nation, how much pressure was the team under to win? What would have been the likely South African reaction if New Zealand had won that day?

FP : We were not under a lot of pressure because going into the tournament. We were not the favorite. We were seeded 9th. We hadn't had a great buildup to the Rugby World Cup and Australia were the firm favorites to win the Rugby World Cup and New Zealand placed second. Australia were undefeated in 12 months of rugby and that was an awesome team that came to South Africa. So there was not a lot of outside pressure. What pressure there was, we put on ourselves. But as the tournament grew, we started doing well. We started off against Australia and beat them against all odds in the opening game. All of a sudden there was a sense of "maybe we can do it" in the hearts of a lot of South Africans. They hoped in their minds they just said "we've been out of the international stage far too long and it will take a top effort to achieve it." What would the reaction had been if New Zealand had won it? A sense of achievement because we had reached the final. When you get to a final, any team can win it. They could have won it. We were lucky. There's a lot of preparation that went in to it. In a final it's always going to be close. If New Zealand had won it, it wouldn't have been the same high, but it wouldn't have been a disaster.

RK : Would you ever return to South Africa to coach the Springboks?

FP : I love my country. I'll definitely come back to South Africa one day. At this stage, I'm committed contractually to Saracens for another season. One thing that is for sure, I'm totally behind the 'Boks for this World Cup and I'm sure that we can turn it around.

RK : Let me ask you about this quote from the book: "As the only colored player on the squad, the marketing man had decided that Chester Williams' smiling face would be the face of the tournament... He was the most mobbed and cheered player at every function, held high as a symbol of the new South Africa." We are referring of course to Chester Williams, the first black South African to play with the Springboks. Basically, what sort of pressure was on the team, on Chester Williams going through that transition for black-white unity?

FP : He was actually not the first black to play for the South Africa, but he was definitely the first black to play in a World Cup. Chester injured himself just before the tournament started and he was in dire straits knowing that he was going to miss out on the biggest event. Fortunately for Chester when we played Canada, two of our players were sent off. There was an altercation and two of our players were sent off. Then in his first game, in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, he scored four tries which was absolutely incredible. You can imagine the pressure on him but he rose above the occasion. There was a lot of talk, "Is he going to be a token player?" He wasn't a token player whatsoever. He warranted his selection through fantastic skills and playing on top of his game. In all, that helped a lot and obviously, President Nelson Mandela wearing a Springbok with my number on it in the final was just tremendous.

RK : From your experience, to what extent can sport bridge cultural, racial or even political differences?

FP : You can't begin to imagine how powerful sport is in nation building and I experienced it first-hand. Sport is a wonderful tool. In South Africa the rugby World Cup did wonders. In the streets after the game there were scenes I'll never forget and that kept going. The following year, our soccer team played in the African Cup of Nations. And they went against all odds to win that. That was truly remarkable. A white-dominated team winning the World Cup and then obviously, the black man's sport winning the soccer World Cup just brought everyone together. We went to the game. It was surreal. The fact that they could turn it around as well. The power of sports is so above everything else that it was an experience. I couldn't believe it.

 

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