The resilient World Rugby Champions!!!

Congratulations to the South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby) aka the Springboks on their 4th World Cup title!!

See it as you may, but this was an astonishing feat for the Springboks to beat 5 of the top six teams in the world to end up as world champions, as the saying goes you have to beat the best to be the best, this is pretty much the ultimate.

Thinking back on their campaign, four main points stand out for me that we can all resonate with in life and business:

Humility:

The Boks did incredibly well in keeping their heads low and focusing on the job, their brutal honesty within the camp and towards the journalists made it easy for the world to understand their mission and communicate it to the world. Even through the controversy of refereing decisions the message stayed the same, the hard work off the field continued. No scandals off the field, not once mentioned that they were meant to be champions, and never criticized other teams, they were a championship team with championship people.

Resilience:

As South Africans, we are naturally a bit more resilient, but these guys are next level.

Being back-to-back world champions, it is easy to forget the path these Boks had to walk to get in a position to dispute the final in Paris. Rassie was involved in both the 2011 and 2015 World Cup efforts that ended in disappointment. A big part of this squad was already involved in the 2015 effort, losing to Japan and narrowly to NZ, and should we even mention the darkness of the 2016 – 2018 years when these very same champions lost to basically everyone and his dog. Despite all, and as we saw in the Chasing the Sun documentary, this team never stopped building and working individually on the little things that make them a better collective, a real indicator of a resilient team.

Innovation:

The lights, the 7/1 bench, the scrum from the free kick in the 22, the music at training sessions, need we say more? As I sit here, I reckon we didn’t even see half of the tricks up the coaching team’s sleeve during the World Cup. Great teams innovate themselves and their product constantly. In a sport that is 200 years old, innovation is slow and subject to a set of laws designed behind closed doors. To exploit these laws and use them in your favor is one thing, but being able to sell them and getting buy-in from your team as a whole is where the true value lies.

Greater purpose:

Siya Kolisi, Springbok captain, summed it up perfectly in an interview after their 12-11 win against the All Blacks on Sunday. A lot has been done since South Africa became a democracy to give every South African an equal opportunity in life, and although far from perfect, the Springboks represent that change. Everyone on the team knew their purpose and their role and you could sense their trust in the decisions, The best lock in the world being replaced after 40 minutes, no problem, and the starting 10 being left out for the final, all in a day's work, on their way towards greatness. The Springboks are the heroes young people look up to and dream about. The Springboks are the heroes of the old people that have built South Africa and look proudly upon them. The Springboks are my heroes. The Springboks are now far bigger than just the team that played on Sunday.

Thank you France and FFR - Fédération Fran?aise de Rugby , for putting up a spectacular show over the last two months and showing off your wonderful country and people. Special thanks to ESPRIT BASQUE and Infinity Sports Travel for taking me around to see the games and meet your wonderful clients from all over the world. Equally thank you to Investec for inviting me to my very first World Cup final, it was humbling to spend time with the South Africans who invest in the change our country needs and then together see the Springboks win for our country.

I thank you Springboks. Thank you, South Africa.

Enjoy the next 1432 days are World Champions.