Burying a Brighton hangover and birthing a team of champions

If there was one game that will always haunt Springbok rugby players and fans alike, it was the game that took place on 19 September, 2015 when Japan shocked South Africa, and the rugby world.

It is a game that has inspired films, has been called the “miracle of Brighton”  and was one of the underlying successes of the Rugby World Cup last year. For rugby purists worldwide, it was the stuff that dreams were made of.

Unless you were a South African, of course.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong on the day in Brighton’s warm sunshine.

The Springboks had the perfect week of training, the team was relaxed and the threat almost didn’t seem real.  Talk of playing players who weren’t in form was perhaps one thing, but after all, this was Japan, not the All Blacks.

And yet, 24 hours later the scar would be burnt deeply into the psyche of South African rugby fans, and the Springboks’ World Cup record would be shattered.

JAPANESE HANGOVER

Episode two of the ground-breaking documentary into the Springboks’ triumph in the Rugby World Cup deals head-on with the hangover of the Japan game and the important steps the Springboks took before they headed into the World Cup.

There was no doubt that there was already talk of a “second miracle” and the dangers of the pre-tournament game against the Japanese was there for all to see. There were still players who were in the Brighton starting line-up – most notably Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Jesse Kriel and others who knew all too well how much this would play on their minds going into the tournament.

To expel their own demons, the Springboks needed to rid themselves of the hangover they created four years earlier.

LESSONS OF A ROLE MODEL

But the game provided a distraction from the task at hand. The players wanted to win to erase the memory but as the day approached, there was so much more going on back home that needed their attention.

Coach Rassie Erasmus’ motto of “let the main thing be the main thing” for once, didn’t fit. For once, there were issues the players needed to deal with. There was a stand away from the game that the players needed to take.

Japan provided a wake-up call for the Springboks, as it plays out in episode two, not just of the conditions they would face in terms of heat and humidity, but also of what it meant to represent the country at the showpiece tournament.

What it meant for the Springboks to represent a nation with such a proud rugby history. What it means for the team as a whole simply as South Africans.

THE TAPESTRY OF A TEAM

Each Springbok team has its own internal story, and episode two delves more into these different aspects. From players who needed to find, and believe in themselves first before they could inspire a nation, to a challenge on the rugby field that needed to be met head-on.

The tapestry of a rugby team is normally crafted from different goals, different strengths and different backgrounds. If there is a common thread that runs through the 2019 World Cup winners, it is their diversity.

There are those who wanted only to erase the hangover of Brighton, but in going about their ways, they discovered that their purpose was so much more. Their purpose was not just to become a cliché of an inspirational team, but to learn how to be role models.

Chasing the Sun, episode two digs deeper into the tapestry of this team, and how for once, the main thing wasn’t just the main thing.

And in doing so, how much they discovered that would carry them to glory.

Episode two of Chasing the Sun will air on MNet at Sunday at 6pm.