When Ben O’Keeffe blew the final whistle at the Stade de France to bring to an end one of the all-time great semi-finals in Rugby World Cup history, the South Africans had just about enough energy to embrace one another. Indeed, there the Springboks stood bruised, bloodied, and holding onto their brothers in arms while the Paris rain fell.
Relief was the overriding emotion on the faces of these giant South African players after somehow overcoming a ferocious England side that for 78 minutes looked like they were on course to meet New Zealand in the final.
The All Blacks assigned the favourites tag
Instead, the Boks – as they always do, found a way to win and will now contest their fourth World Cup final. On the eve of the showdown in Paris, the latest New Zealand vs South Africa betting odds perhaps unsurprisingly, price the All Blacks as the favourites at 8/11.
Meanwhile, South Africa will run out onto the Stade de France pitch at 13/10 to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in the most recent Rugby World Cup final odds. While these odds clearly make the All Blacks the favourites, the gap between the two nations in the betting markets could conceivably be a lot wider on account of the Springboks’ gruelling road to the final.
Essentially, the Boks are likely to be emotionally and physically drained after playing four of the top six nations in the world en route to the final. The upcoming match against New Zealand will mean that Siya Kolisi’s men will have played every team-tier nation in the world in the space of a few weeks.
While this extraordinary set of fixtures alone would be enough to see a side depleted of their energy levels, the nature of the wins – in particular against hosts France and England where the Boks came from behind at the eleventh hour to keep their World Cup dream alive, would have, in all likelihood, also sapped them emotionally.
How then do the Boks pick themselves up for a bone-crunching do-or-die World Cup final against New Zealand?
For South Africa…
The reality is that Jacques Niebaber and Rassie Erasmus are going to have to rally their exhausted troops in a way they have never done before. However, the task of resetting emotionally and recharging physically after the last month may be possible during the build-up as the Boks use this week to reflect on who it is they are representing in the final. There will be 60 million South Africans relying on the Boks to provide them with a ray of hope that is otherwise missing in day-to-day life.
Indeed, whatever may be happening back home in the Rainbow Nation and however hard the challenges may be for ordinary people, the Springboks remain the symbol of hope for the population with the ability to uplift. When they win a World Cup, the citizens of South Africa also feel like world champions.
Crucially, the Springbok players and management know this and use this sense of expectation as a privilege and not pressure.
By thinking back to the millions of people back home whose lives would be positively affected by a World Cup final win, the Springboks can find the courage and energy needed to square up to the All Blacks and beat them.
