What is the significance of the 1995 rugby world cup

Even when The Springboks seemed unequipped to challenge the top tier rugby nations, Mandela believed The Springboks could do the unthinkable and win the Rugby World Cup. Before the start of the biggest event due to take place in South Africa, President Mandela invited Springbok Captain, Francois Pienaar to his presidential offices for tea. Coach, Laurie Mains and Captain, Sean Fitzpatrick led a formidable force, with a squad full of depth; while the most feared rugby player at the time became a household name globally.

Leading up to the final, Lomu scored a record 7 tries in the Rugby World Cup tournament. His standout performance of the tournament was his Man of the Match display in the semi-finals against England, as he scored 4 tries and famously ran over Mike Catt on the way to scoring. New Zealand went into the fixture as standout favourites, although many experts expressed how long The Springboks were able to withstand the dominance of the All Black attack.

Plenty of emphases was placed on the New Zealand superstar, Jonah Lomu , as South Africa refused to give the talented wing any space out wide. As both sides displayed water-tight defence on the day, it was a match determined by the consolation of infringements and the kicking boots of Andrew Mehrtens and Joel Stransky.

At the end of regulation time, the scores were tied at 9 points each. For the first time, a Rugby World Cup was due to head to extra-time where the Rugby World Cup winner would be determined after the additional minutes. New Zealand took the lead in extra-time from a converted penalty by Mehrtens and shortly after, South Africa levelled matters as Stransky converted a successful penalty. With less than 7 minutes to play, a moment of brilliance happened; a moment that would change the course of history for South African Rugby forever.

Understanding this resistance to change, Mandela sought a conciliatory strategy that would allow Afrikaners to keep their treasured emblem as a means to an end: bringing the nation together. So at the beginning of his first term, he invited Francois Pienaar, the team's captain, to meet with him to discuss how the Springboks could help broker peace between the Black and white populations. Pienaar had grown up in an Afrikaner community, where Mandela's name was associated with "terrorist" and "bad man.

In the Soweto uprisings alone, police had killed hundreds of Black citizens and injured thousands. After his election, Mandela came under fire from militant Black groups who believed his ruling party, the African National Congress, was too conciliatory to the former apartheid regime.

One of his most vocal critics was his estranged wife, Winnie Mandela, who believed he focused more on appeasing whites than on ensuring rights for Black South Africans. While Mandela and the ANC listened to these critics, they continued to focus on reassuring the white minority that it wanted to build a strong working relationship. His appeals to Black South Africans were often framed through the lens of what their support could mean for his larger aims for the country.

I have never been so proud of our boys as I am now and I hope that that pride we all share. Before the start of the World Cup Finals against New Zealand, a mostly white audience of 63, at Ellis Park sang along as the Springboks led a new national anthem. When Mandela appeared in the stadium wearing the Springbok green, the mostly Afrikaner crowd shouted, "Nelson, Nelson, Nelson! In the match, the two teams finished regulation time tied in a spirited match of archrivals.

With seven minutes left in extra time, the South African team won with a drop goal by Joel Stransky to secure a victory. It was a moment of national fusion that Mandela had done much to inspire. The major events depicted in the movie happened just as he wrote them, Peckham said, and there was little he had to embellish. One of those scenes taken from real life was when the South African leader faced a stadium full of his people and placed a Springbok baseball cap on his head.

Peckham said it was the equivalent of 'putting on a Ku Klux Klan hood, and saying we can't survive without these people.

But one of the most iconic scenes in the film -- when Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, gives team captain Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, a piece of paper with the Victorian poem "Invictus" written on it -- never actually happened.

Given that, Peckham said he still found the scene appropriate, "It's a film about inspiration in a way. And so an inspirational poem didn't seem out of place. Although writing the story was "terrifying" because he was "afraid of not doing it justice," Peckham's fears were absolved when he talked with Mandela's daughter at the film's premiere.

Peckham also heard from one of Freeman's producers that Mandela was pleased with the film. He said the producer told him that while watching it with Freeman, "Mandela kept grabbing Morgan and saying 'I know that man, and I know that man,' and giggling. Freeman told Parade Magazine in a interview that he had felt "destined" to play Mandela. The Academy-award winning actor met the South African leader for the first time in the early '90s after he was released from prison.

I was sort of the chosen one, as it were. Carlin told ABC News that when he sat down with Freeman to discuss his book's becoming a movie, he was shocked at how much the actor knew about the political and social issues in South Africa. While the rugby finals were a pinnacle moment for Mandela and the nation of South Africa, Carlin said, it wasn't the cure-all to ending violence in the country, but it was a catalyst towards rebuilding.

We'll notify you here with news about.