‘You’ve won nothing’: How World Cup-winning Wallabies silenced South Africa in 1992

The last time the Wallabies won at Cape Town, in 1992, captain Nick Farr-Jones and his World Cup-winning squad played in a country filled with tension.

The Springboks had been officially isolated from Test rugby for eight years due to the nation’s apartheid regime, and the arrival of teams from New Zealand and Australia for two Tests was a tentative gesture of support for a country grappling with the transition to democracy. One year before Farr-Jones had lifted the World Cup in front of Queen Elizabeth, but according to many Afrikaners, it was a phoney prize.

“We went up to Pretoria [for a tour match],” Farr-Jones said. “You’ve got a lot of Afrikaners up there and, of course, they [South Africa] weren’t part of the 1991 World Cup, and my long-lasting memory is the Afrikaners coming up to me, recognising me, knowing who I was and basically to summarise, they would say, ‘Congratulations on winning what you perceive to be the World Cup, and until you’ve beaten us, you’ve won nothing’.”

In 1992, South Africa was stumbling on its first tentative steps to democracy as it attempted to transition from the institutionalised racial segregation of apartheid. Nelson Mandela had been released from prison two years earlier after 27 years behind bars, and talks between his party, the African National Congress, and the government were difficult. The invitation to New Zealand and Australia to play the Springboks in South Africa only came with the express blessing of the ANC.

“When I was a young fella, in the mid-80s, I always thought that sport and politics shouldn’t cross over,” Farr-Jones said. “But when I saw the pressure that isolation [in sport] brought on South Africa to change, I turned 180 degrees.

“I believe that that isolation was very important in getting rid of apartheid, that abhorrent culture, and so I went from someone who [believed] sport and politics shouldn’t interfere, to someone that felt this was the right thing to do in isolating South Africa, economically and sport.”

In the lead up to the game, Farr-Jones had the opportunity to spend time with Mandela, a man who he bonded with as a fellow lawyer and admired greatly for his courageous stance against apartheid.

The Wallabies almost did not take to the field in Newlands, as the ANC and its supporters were unhappy after their requests for the apartheid-era national anthem and flag not to be used before the game against New Zealand were ignored.

Farr-Jones understood clearly that Australia’s first Test against South Africa in 21 years needed the express consent of the ANC.

The country was already tense. More than 40 people had been murdered in a Gauteng province two months before the Wallabies’ arrival with the ANC blaming the government for the attack. If the Wallabies took to the field without the permission of the ANC, they risked being caught in a country on the verge of more violence.

“I was woken about 1am on the Monday [before the Test] to have a meeting with [coach] Bob Dwyer, our manager and the president because we just heard that the ANC was meeting the next morning to consider, because of the breach of the conditions [at the New Zealand game], to withdraw the support for our tour,” Farr-Jones said.

“So we got the team together before we went to training on that Monday and said, ‘Guys, pack your bags. If whilst we’re training, the ANC withdraw their support, it’s going to be a dangerous country to be in ... we’re going to have two planes waiting for us to get to Singapore’.”

Eventually, the ANC agreed that the Test could go ahead, and the Wallabies ran out onto a muddy Newlands field with rain sweeping off Table Mountain.

Farr-Jones’ Wallabies beat South Africa 26-3, the biggest defeat at that time in the nation’s history. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald after the game, five-eighth Michael Lynagh captured the mood of his team in the changing room.

“We didn’t have to look for any extra motivation than the South Africa supporters ... they were our biggest motivation,” Lynagh said.

“All the guys have been pretty pissed off with the arrogant attitude of the South Africans, as we have really been battered from pillar to post here. It has been relentless, with them showing a total disrespect for privacy and manners.”

For Farr-Jones, the pressure of captaincy had been enormous on and off the field and he was relieved to get on the plane to return home.

“To me, everything was on the line, because what we won the year before, the World Cup, this was absolutely on the line against these guys,” Farr-Jones.

“I remember going up the stairs in the Qantas plane out of Jan Smuts [airport] to fly home and just turning around and sort of putting two fingers up to those Afrikaners ... I just was so happy to have knocked them over.”

Australia take on South Africa at Cape Town at 1.10am (AEST) on Sunday.

Watch every match of The Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup live and on demand on Stan Sport kicking off 17 August.