Springboks’ unsung World Cup hero: Step up Franco Mostert

There is no doubt that some players at the Rugby World Cup flew under the radar and never got the full credit they deserve. For the Springboks, that man was undoubtedly Franco Mostert.

Incredibly, it’s been revealed that ‘Sous’ – as he is affectionately known – made a mammoth 49 tackles across the knockout stage of the tournament, and missed not a single one.

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Watch the Springboks’ unsung hero in action below:

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Another ‘unheralded’ success story

Upon closer inspection, it’s also become evident how crucial Deon Fourie’s leadership was during the final seconds of the match.

With the Springboks needing to complete one final scrum to hold on for a one-point victory, the All Blacks went in search of a penalty at the set piece, which could have won them the game.

Before the scrum is set, the All Blacks’ captain at the time, Ardie Savea, can be heard giving a “heads up” to referee Wayne Barnes as he told him to be aware that New Zealand would be trying to “go for it”.

Not long after this interaction, though, Fourie also crucially came up to speak to Barnes, and could be heard telling the referee he should also be looking “to expect something funny” from the All Blacks.

He also added a bit more ‘sweet talk’ to suggest that the accuracy of Barnes and the scrums had “been good all game”, while Fourie also had a moment where he joked and smiled with the referee to further defuse the tense situation.

It was ultimately an incredible example of important leadership and the small margins that make all the difference, as was the case when Faf de Klerk used all his experience to not feed the ball into the scrum after an early surge.

The importance of all of this was also recounted by former Springbok Rob Louw in a post to social media that can be seen below.

Also make sure you check out the YouTube video during the dramatic final stages, and look out for all the interactions from the two-hour mark.

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The victory meant the world to Fourie

The emotion on Fourie’s face after the final whistle blew when thy beat All Blacks 12-11 revealed how much the victory meant to him.

“That emotion you saw after the whistle, that was relief. The last three weeks, winning by one point, it was stressful. Grafting it out at the end, and you know you just have to get the ball back to win the game and move on.

Fourie, who was the oldest Springboks player to make his debut at the Rugby World Cup this year also told IOL that he would’ve never imagined he’d be a world champion two years ago.

“If you had told me two years ago when I came back to South Africa that I would be standing here today with a World Cup winners medal, I would’ve laughed and said you are smoking some weird stuff. But I am very happy and fortunate to be in this position.”

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