The Rainbow Nation's time to shine and not even Lomu could stop it

WHEN Sean Fitzpatrick woke up on the morning of the 1995 World Cup final, he parted the curtains of his hotel room in Sandton, Johannesburg, and his heart sank.

- MIKE GREENAWAY

Outside was a small army of South African fans, brandishing placards along the lines of “This is our day, you are going to lose.”

On the way to the match at Ellis Park, there was the chilling sight of fans with “voodoo dolls” of the tournament’s star performer, the blockbusting All Black wing Jonah Lomu. The dolls had ropes around their necks.

Of course, these fans were extremists but that kind of behaviour summed up the passion that swept across South Africa.

Fitzpatrick said in his autobiography that he understood that New Zealand were up against way more that the Springbok rugby team. This was a country that had emerged from sporting isolation only two years before and had just ventured into democratic elections, a seismic shift for the African continent and one of the most significant developments of the 20th Century.

Fitzpatrick said that when he saw Nelson Mandela wearing Francois Pienaar’s No 6 jersey, his heart sank still further.