The Rugby Outsider

Go out and rent Invictus , the movie about the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Starring Matt Damon as Springbok Francois Pienaar and Morgan Freeman as then-President Nelson Mandela. It is an inspirational movie along the lines of what Miracle did to magnify the accomplishments of the US Olympic Ice Hockey team in 1980. However, as Pienaar points out in this Times UK article , the Springbok team portrayed in the movie was quite different than in real life. That South African side was very capable of winning a World Cup, and though a surprise, it was not as earth shattering as the US hockey team gold medal in Lake Placid. However, politically, the Springbok victory was enormous for the emerging nation. Clint Eastwood's film does an outstanding job of highlighting Mandela's 27-year imprisonment on Robben Island, and Freeman, who always seems to play the wise man in a room of fools, expertly charts the course of unity by testing his relationship with his cabinet and ...

The Tri-Nations series really is the best time of year for rugby fans. Since 1996, the rugby-playing nations of South Africa , New Zealand and Australia have played against each other in what I believe is not only the premiere rugby tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the finest annual rugby tournament in the world. It may become a truly "Southern Hemisphere" tournament as Argentina has been conditionally invited to join in 2012. Club rugby, like club football (soccer) and other team sports are thing. An annual tournament involving national team draws much bigger crowds and has much more interest. The three Southern Hemisphere nations are rugby hotbeds. Of six Rugby World Cups , five have been won by Tri-Nations national teams. New Zealand is the clear leader with nine victories, South Africa has three and Australia two. The fierce competition, and the fact that rugby enjoys a substantial following in those countries, make these three teams among the best in t...