Rugby and Cricket in South Africa
For 21 years during the apartheid era South Africa was banned from international sports including rugby and cricket. After apartheid ended and the ban was removed the country almost immediately reminded the world just how strong their national teams in rugby and cricket are!
The national Rugby team – the “Springboks”, wear their green and gold shirts with pride and are known in the international community as a team to be reckoned with. In 1995 they led the country to victory in the World cup finals at Ellis Park beating the favourites New Zealand’s “All-Blacks” and united the whole country in pride. Since then they have gone on to bring home a number of victories, including winning the World Cup again in 2007 and 2019, as well as the Tri-Nations competition (which is played between New Zealand, South Africa and Australia) in 1998, 2004 and 2009. The next Rugby World Cup Championships will be held in 2023 in France.
Cricket has always been one of South Africa’s favourite sports. The national team known as the “Proteas” has had many successes both away and at home, including winning the first ICC Champions Trophy in 1998, and blowing away all the records by beating Australia in the famous “400” game when they successfully chased down the highest score ever made in a one day international match, a game which was immediately declared “the greatest match ever”.
South Africa was banned from International cricket just after they had beaten the very strong Australian side 4-0 in 1970, leaving many players not being able to show their talent at the highest level. After returning to the world scene with the end of apartheid, the “Proteas” field a versatile team, with stars such as Paul Adams, Hershcelle Gibbs, and Makhaya Ntini proudly representing their team and bringing it great success, keeping it consistently as one of the top two teams, in this sport, in the world.
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