Springboks

…national team (known as the Springboks), and he served in that capacity for several years. In 1956 he became president of the South African Rugby Board (SARB), a position he held until his death in 1993. In 1959 he was elevated to chairman of the International Rugby Football Board (IRB).

…South African national team, the Springboks, to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the first major tournament held in postapartheid South Africa. Pienaar was praised by Pres. Nelson Mandela for his leadership of the team and his attempts to reach out to all sectors of South African society.

South Africa’s rugby team, the Springboks, won the Rugby World Cup in 1995, 2007, 2019, and 2023. The 1995 victory was particularly poignant, as the country’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, and the captain of the predominantly white rugby team, François Pienaar, used the tournament as an opportunity to build…

…helped propel the South African Springboks to victory in the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup. The tournament was immortalized in the Clint Eastwood movie Invictus (2009).

…South African national team, the Springboks, in 1955 against the British Lions (now the British and Irish Lions) and during its 1956 tour of New Zealand. Against the Lions at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, he became the first Springbok to perform a hat trick (score three tries) on home…