This Sunday, October 15, France and South Africa will face each other in the quarter-final of the World Cup at the Stade de France. This will be the second meeting between these two major nations in a World Cup. The first took place on June 17, 1995, in the semi-final, in the paddling pool at Kings Park in Durban (South Africa).
In the last minute of a match which was ultimately won 19-15 by the South Africans, Abdelatif Benazzi tripped over his captain Philippe Saint-André and collapsed on the Springboks’ try line. On the line ? Ten centimeters before? Pages and pages have been written on this try which the Welsh referee Mr. Bevan will not validate.
A very political World Cup
At the time, in the devastated Blues locker room, Benazzi assured that it was too short. It was only later, “once South Africa is reconciled around this world champion team and Nelson Mandela” that the former second row of the Blues allows himself to tell the truth: “Yes, I scored that try, I put the ball on the line. I accepted that this World Cup goes beyond sport, that it is bigger than us. Today, when I look at the Springboks, when I see their black captain (Siya Kolisi) which is so sunny, I tell myself that 1995 has something to do with it. »
“I accepted that this World Cup goes beyond sport, that it is bigger than us. »
Upon his return to France, Benazzi received a letter from President Nelson Mandela thanking him for understanding that the moment for the South African people exceeded the validity of his essay. On the occasion of the approaching quarter-final and to remember this rare sporting moment, everyone can buy for 100 euros one of the 1995 “EMS” (Exceptional sporting moment) and thus become the owner of a digital work (a clip where Benazzi reads the letter sent to him by Mandela). All profits will be donated to the Fondation de France. To do this, simply go on the organization’s website.