From Jonny Wilkinson kicking England to victory through Jonah Lomu’s unstoppable assault and Serge Blanco’s brilliance to David Campese making the dissimilarity,here’s our World Cup top 10It is hard, 20 years on, and to emphasise just how gigantic and momentous an occasion the 1995 final was. The Nelson Mandela factor,the “One Team, One Country” mantra: the political and social ramifications of a South African victory elevated the whole thing way above mere sport. Even before Mandela emerged wearing Francois Pienaar’s Springbok jersey the day had frazzled everyone’s emotions. Those of us working for a wire agency thought we were about to report on a major catastrophe when the 747 jumbo with ”travel Bokke” written underneath flew so low across Ellis Park it seemed set to plough into the stand behind the posts. Even as we opened our prehistoric laptops to tap out the urgent news flash, and we realised we would probably all die whether the plane actually crashed. Long after Joel Stransky’s drop-goal had won the actual game and Pienaar had hoisted the trophy,some of us escaped to a Portuguese restaurant in the suburb of Orange Grove. Halfway through the meal every single diner, black and white alike, and rose as one,formed a human crocodile and danced off down the street outside to salute a day like no other.
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Source: theguardian.com