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'You can't say they were lucky': Bok legend fires back at criticism after World Cup win
By Josh Raisey
It is strange that a team could play five of the top six teams in the world on the way to being crowned world champions and be accused of being lucky, but that has been the charge thrown South Africa’s way ever since they won their fourth World Cup back in October.
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It was of course not the route that the Springboks had to the final which has been described as lucky – this was the hardest route probably any team will ever have to World Cup glory – rather the results they earned on the way.
Jacque Nienaber’s side beat hosts France, England and the All Blacks in consecutive weeks by a solitary point in the knockout stages, which some feel came down to luck. But one person’s luck is another’s good preparation, and 2007 World Cup winner Schalk Burger firmly believes it was the latter.
The 86-cap Springbok was a guest on Hanyani Shimange’s ‘Boks Office’ podcast recently, where he was asked whether his compatriots were lucky on the way to winning their fourth title, and his response was emphatic.
“It’s so hard to say that the Boks were lucky because this group deserves it,” the former World Rugby player of the year said. “You look at the teams we beat, five of world’s top six to get there, the toughest route any team has ever had to win a World Cup, let alone back-to-back World Cups.
“If you took our pool where we played Scotland first game, that’s the most important one, then the intensity of that Irish game – yes, we could have got a result, fair play to Ireland – but I guess where the lucky part comes from, so often we’ve been involved in World Cups and we’ve played so well, you take our quarter-final against Australia back in 2011 and we come up two points short, you look at the tightness of those games and certain calls that go your way or Handre Pollard’s magnificent kick in the semi-final, sometimes it’s just your time.
“Things happen and go your way and the Boks had a lot of stuff roll their way in those big games, whether that’s through preparation, is it divine intervention? Is it your time? We don’t know, but you can’t say they were lucky.”
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I rather think that you can say that in fact. I’d go as far as to say the best team lost that day. And that mistakes made by the officials were a large part of it.
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Gary Player once said, “you know they say I’m lucky, but the more I practice the luckier I get”
SA have won 4 out of 8 world cups they played. All blacks 3 out of ten. Was that luck too?
They still whining on about this?
The ABs got whomped not long before and the final was closer than it should have been. The real final for me was against France.
As a Boks man I couldn’t care less how they won, all I know is it was an adventure of great rugby, elation and fried nerves.
Say what you want, facts are the Boks have 3 world cups away from home to the ABs solitary one.
Didn't play the number 1 side to get there and 16 men playing 14 should always win.
Well, in the words of Mandy Rice-Davies; ‘He would say that, wouldn’t he?’.