Everyone loves a winner.
And right now the Springboks are the darlings of the nation.
It feels great to be South African this week, doesn’t it?
World champions, world beaters, heroes who upset the odds when nobody gave us a chance.
What a final it was, what a feeling!
When Lukhanyo Am coolly collected that chipkick and casually floated a pass back to Makazole Mapimpi, who cruised in like he was jogging on the Sea Point promenade.
Right then, you knew England were done and dusted.
And by the time Cheslin Kolbe breakdanced his way past three defenders - no one else in world rugby can score a try like that - the engraver was already half done
preparing the trophy for us.
We were so good, we made it look easy.
We were simply the best, and because we won, suddenly our coach was a master tactician, our game plan was superior, our captain was the most inspirational, and our black players were clearly “chosen on merit”.
INSPIRATION: Bok captain Siya Kolisi and teammates celebrate the victory
Rewind 18 months or even three months and this was not the case.
If you recall, many Bok fans and pundits blasted Rassie Erasmus and called his tactics conservative and selections bizarre.
Siya Kolisi was “window-dressed” as the country’s first black captain.
Almost every non-white player, apart from the now-retired Beast Mtawarira, had a quota question mark next to their name.
How quickly we forget when the results go our way.
Now we’re the happy Rainbow Nation once more.
Even Eben Etzebeth seems to be out of the sin bin for his racism and assault allegations. Well, in the public eye anyway.
Yep, this Rugby World Cup has done wonders for national morale, the #StrongerTogether campaign was truly a masterstroke.
And when Kolisi gave his post-match interview - what a composed and powerful speaker he is - South African eyes welled up, hearts bursting with pride, hope and unity.
STRATEGY: Erasmus
“I never dreamed of a day like this at all,” he said.
“When I was a kid, all I was thinking about was getting my next meal.
“We have so many problems in our country but to have a team like this we come from different backgrounds, different races and we came together with one goal and we wanted to achieve it.
“I really hope we have done that for South Africa to show that we can pull together if we want to achieve something.”
And he thanked the “people in the taverns, people in the shebeens, people in farms and homeless people that had screens and people in rural areas”.
Like most of you, Munier felt inspired by Kolisi’s words.
That together we are indeed stronger and can overcome great challenges and achieve great things.
But while this sentiment may help to develop much-needed race relations and teamwork, will it help to address this country’s critical challenges?
Top of the list being unemployment, crime, state corruption and slow economic growth.
No. Hope and unity are not the answer here, what this country needs is political will.
Government doesn’t need hope and unity to turn things around.
Like Rassie’s Springboks, Cyril Ramaphosa needs a good strategy, the right personnel, discipline and hard work in order to succeed.