Remembering the 'Miracle of Brighton' and the lessons that shaped SA rugby's future

A decade has passed since the “Miracle of Brighton”, a seismic event that will be remembered as South African rugby’s darkest day, as well as a turning point for the local game.

You had to be at the Amex Stadium in Brighton, England, during the final moments of the 2015 World Cup pool B opener to appreciate the significance and consequence of Japan’s monumental win against the Springboks. With time running out, Japan had the chance to kick for goal and level the scores. Captain Michael Leitch, however, sensed that a greater opportunity was in the offing.

By that stage, all 30,000 fans were on their feet, and in that final passage of play, it felt like every one of them was willing the Brave Blossoms over the try line. When replacement winger Karne Hesketh scored the match winner, the crowd celebrated as if Japan had won the World Cup itself.

Afterwards, the contrasting reactions of the teams served to highlight the impact of the result. Japan boss Eddie Jones, who was part of the management team when the Boks won the 2007 World Cup, described it as his finest achievement in rugby.

Opposite number Heyneke Meyer was in shock, and lock Lood de Jager — who, ironically, was one of the standout players in Brighton — delivered his post-match verdict while choking back the tears.

On the morning that the players and management staff packed a bus bound for Heathrow Airport, Meyer held an informal press conference in the lobby of the team hotel and made an alarming set of predictions. Self-serving franchises and poor conditioning standards had cost the Boks in the lead-up to the 2015 World Cup, but according to Meyer, the worst was yet to come.

Allister Coetzee replaced Meyer in 2016, but the complacency entrenched in South African rugby persisted. The national team continued to spiral, suffering an inaugural loss to Italy as well as record-breaking defeats to the All Blacks, Ireland and Wales.

By the end of 2017, the Boks had dropped to sixth in the World Rugby rankings. Meyer’s prediction had come to pass, and South African rugby had hit rock bottom.

Rebuilding the Boks

After Rassie Erasmus was appointed as head coach in 2018, he spoke about rebuilding the system and addressing the issues that were holding the national team back. And with South African rugby at its lowest ebb, he was given the means to make structural changes and maximise the player base at home and abroad.

Four years after the “miracle of Brighton”, Erasmus, Siya Kolisi and the most transformed group in South African rugby history performed their own miracle in Yokohama, when they thrashed a more fancied England side 32-12 in the World Cup final.

When Erasmus sat down with the media for a beer in the early hours of the morning, he delivered a more optimistic prediction than the one given by Meyer four years earlier.

The 2019 World Cup triumph, he said, represented a starting point rather than a destination, and an opportunity to build a dynasty.

The prediction came with a warning, though. Having witnessed the stall and stagnation of South African rugby in the past, Erasmus was mindful of how quickly things might change for the worse.

Enduring lessons

The story detailing the fall and rise of the Boks should never be forgotten. History, of course, has a habit of repeating itself.

Erasmus has earned a well-deserved reputation for his man management skills and technical knowledge, yet his ability to recall South Africa’s darkest moments and use them to motivate his charges is something of a superpower.

The Bok coach often recalls his stint as a technical adviser to the national side at the 2011 World Cup, where senior players skipped training in the lead-up to big games and conditioning standards were below par.

After his time as SA Rugby’s high-performance manager (2012-2015), he has an intimate understanding of how the South African system functions and knows that most stakeholders have a tendency to forget the mistakes of the past.

In 2019, Erasmus told everyone that Japan would be a force at their home World Cup. There was a sense of relief after the Boks thumped the Brave Blossoms 41-7 in a warm-up fixture staged in Kumagaya, yet Erasmus told the media that Japan would be the team to watch at the tournament.

As it happened, Japan beat Ireland and Scotland to finish at the top of their pool, setting up a showdown with South Africa in a gritty quarterfinal. There was never a moment in the lead-up to that playoff when the Boks didn’t give the Japanese the necessary respect, and on the day, South Africa were forced to fight tooth and nail to secure a 26-3 win.

Respecting the threat

The Bok coach isn’t paying lip service to Japan when he says they have the potential to cause South Africa problems at Wembley on Saturday, 1 November. The Brave Blossoms may not be the force they were in 2015 or 2019, but they still have the capacity to surprise. Last week, they pushed the Wallabies all the way in Tokyo before losing 19-15.

Jones is back for a second stint as head coach of Japan and, like Erasmus, he will use all his experience to address the shortcomings in the system in an attempt to take the national team to the next level.

It’s worth noting that two influential South African rugby figures — former Bok assistant coach Gary Gold and World Cup-winner Victor Matfield — have joined the Brave Blossoms’ management team in recent months. Japan will know South Africa’s strengths and weaknesses, and how to exploit them.

But the Boks aren’t likely to underestimate Japan, even if they’re sitting at the top of the rankings and Japan are languishing at 13th. They boast one of the keenest students of history as head coach and eight members of the current group were at that game in Brighton, so there’s little chance of the team underestimating the Brave Blossoms and conceding a result that would send another shockwave through the sport.

The Boks have built up significant momentum since 2018 and taken their standards to new heights over the past two seasons, as their 82% win record for the period confirms. And yet Erasmus, more than anyone else, knows how quickly things can change.

The Boks will make history for all the wrong reasons if they lose to Japan this weekend. In that event, they will limp into the marquee fixtures against France and Ireland, and may return to South Africa with three or more losses.

As much as they’ve achieved in recent years, Erasmus and company realise that the job is far from done. That’s as good a sign as any of how far South African rugby has come since that dark day in 2015. DM

Teams

Japan: 15 Yoshitaka Yazaki, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Charlie Lawrence, 11 Tomoki Osada, 10 Lee Seung-sin, 9 Shinobu Fujiwara, 8 Michael Leitch (captain), 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Ben Gunter, 5 Warner Dearns, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Kenji Sato, 1 Kenta Kobayashi.
Reserves: 16 Shodai Hirao, 17 Ryosuke Iwaihara, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Tyler Paul, 20 Faulua Makisi, 21 Kenta Fukuda, 22 Sam Greene, 23 Tiennan Costley.

South Africa: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Ethan Hooker, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Reserves: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Ruan Nortjé, 20 André Esterhuizen, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok.

Date: 1 November

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London

Kick-off: 18.10 (SA Time)

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Ben O’Keefe (New Zealand), Adam Leal (England)

TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.