Latest news with #Kobus
The Star
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Star
Rugby World Cup 1995 I Kobus Wiese said: ‘You can go up, down, left or right, but you will NOT go back' — Balie Swart recalls the semi-final defeat of France
Thirty years ago this week, the Springboks beat France in a World Cup semi-final amid unbearable tension. One of the heroes of the day was Balie Swart, who anchored the scrum despite having sustained damaged ribs. Independent Media asked Swart for his recollections of the drama in drenched Durban. This is the tighthead prop's story of that epic 1995 win, in his words. 'On the morning of the game, we looked out of the window of our beachfront hotel, and there was this huge barrier of dark clouds over the Indian Ocean. We looked at each other with big eyes, and I said: 'What the hell is going on here? That is not normal rain out there.' "When we got to the stadium, usually you walk out onto the pitch to get a feel of the ground, but we couldn't go past the end of the tunnel — the field was a lake and none of us wanted to get our shoes and pants wet! "This was the game where Andre Joubert had that special rubber glove over the hand he had broken against Samoa in the quarter-final. In the change room, I was sitting opposite him. The glove had a fin running along it and it looked just like a fish. I said to my mate Kobus (Wiese) sitting next to me: 'He will be all right out there with his fin.' That broke some of the tension. "Halfway through the warm-up, Morne (du Plessis, the manager) came in and said the kick-off was delayed. So there we were, lying in the change room, listening to the thunder, wondering if our World Cup was over. The tension was almost intolerable. Nobody knew what to say or do, so we just parked off, lost in our thoughts. "There was another kick-off delay after we had just finished warming up. In the end, we warmed up four times! That must be some kind of a record. "At last, we splashed out onto the field, and immediately we were boosted by the sea of colour in the stands. It was an unforgettable sight... so many South African flags swirling in the rain and the crowd roaring louder than the thunder. "It was a heck of a tough game to be a forward because most of the time we were chasing kicks — it was always going to be that kind of a game because trying to handle the ball would have been madness. We were exhausted pretty quickly. That was also because the ground was so heavy, and we were sodden. "Early in the second half, I was trapped in a ruck and (Abdelatif) Benazzi (the formidable French No 8) came crashing in with his knees and I felt my ribs go. Later, I found out two of them had been cracked. "I played on, but towards the end of the game, the pain was excruciating. When we got to those famous last scrums in that corner near our try-line, with the French pushing for the win (the Boks led 19-15), I said to myself: 'This is stupid... If I can't give 100 percent, I must be replaced by someone who can.' "I stayed on for the first scrum (there would be four of them), it collapsed, and when I got up in agony, I told Kobus I was finished, I was in too much pain. Well, he looked at me with an expression of disgust and said: 'You are going nowhere, softy.' "Then he looked at me and said in a very serious tone: 'Listen carefully: you can go up, you can go down, you can go left or right, but you will NOT go back!' "How did we hold them off to win? There was vasbyt, adrenaline... stupidity! But probably what carried the day was the crowd support in that corner — the screaming of 'Bokke! Bokke!'I don't think people understand how much that lifts a player, how important it is. "After the final whistle, we three front-row guys came together (Balie, Chris Rossouw and Os du Randt) in our own little huddle. We stood there for quite a while, crying with relief as steam rose from us. "When you go through a couple of minutes of incredible intensity together, with a lot of inspirational words spoken to each other to get through it... Well, you cry with relief. We had held it together. Honestly, at that time, we knew we were holding on for something much bigger than ourselves.' Swart ended his story quite presciently. That 'something much bigger' came seven days later when Swart and his teammates had to do it all again in the final, albeit on a bone-dry field of the Highveld and the crisp, rarefied air of Ellis Park. Swart's cracked ribs were never going to heal in a week and he, Mark Andrews and Joost van der Westhuizen (they also had rib injuries) had pain-killing injections before the final kicked off and again at half-time. Once more, the Boks were lifted by the support of South Africa. Swart shared his recollection of the pre-game atmosphere at an electric Ellis Park. This time he had no concern about getting his shoes and trousers wet... 'When we walked out of the tunnel to the edge of the field for a look around, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I had goosebumps all over. There was an energy crackling around the ground. There is no question that there was an external influence at the ground that would sweep us along. I felt an overwhelming sense of destiny.' Mike Greenaway is the author of the best-selling books The Fireside Springbok and Bok to Bok.
IOL News
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
WATCH: Witty TikToker imagines a 2085 history lesson on 'The Great Tsek of 2025'
TikTok user pretends to be a history teacher in 2085. Image: TikTok A South African TikTok user, @dndndognerd, has the internet in stitches after sharing a series of hilarious videos in which she pretends to be a teacher imagining a history lesson in 2085. In these videos, she quizzes her make-believe learners about what she refers to as the 'Great Tsek of 2025", a mock reference to the Afrikaaners who emigrated from South Africa to America. Coming across as a very stern teacher, she asks the learners to open their history books and then proceeds to question them on the topic of the 'Great Tsek'. 'Who can tell me when in 2025 did the 'Great Tsek' happen?' she asks the class. One of the fictional learners, whom she named Kobus, responds, 'May 2025.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ She then goes on to ask the learners why the 'Great Tsek' happened. Pretending to be another learner named Ntokozo she answers, 'Yes, because the voortsekkers were not happy with equality and they were trying to victimise themselves and then they tried to commit treason and it didn't work and they accidentally ended up with 'refugee status'. Her final question to the class centred around why so many people were angry at the voortsekkers for the move. A learner named Mark, who seems to have a bit of a dirty mouth, responded that they thought the rest of the work was stupid. The humorous skit has been viewed over 900,000 times, with thousands of people jumping into the comment section responding to the witty clip. 'Now I want to time travel… Be in this class… pass the term… write a whole essay… And focus on how that impacted Brakpan,' one user commented. Another said, 'South Africa is a movie. I'm telling you. The most diverse country in the world. Hate or love us, it's your business.' The TikToker went on to create more videos around the same topic. In another skit, she asks the class what happened to the voorstekkers when they realised there was no biltong in America. One of the imaginary learners responded that it was the 'biltong revolution' that happened in 2026. With sharp wit and satire, her videos blend humour and social commentary in a way that clearly resonates with South African TikTok users. IOL Entertainment
