The Brief is a news item from Monday to Friday and a magazine format at weekends. Today, we are talking about the 1995 Rugby World Cup, won at home by South Africa, and immortalized in Clint Eastwood's film Invictus.
As the Rugby World Cup kicked off on Friday in Japan, Europe 1 is back on a legendary edition: the one organized and won by South Africa in 1995, under Nelson Mandela's eyes, four years after the end of the season. apartheid. A success that goes well beyond the sport and becomes the symbol of what will be called the "rainbow nation." The story was immortalized by a film by Clint Eastwood, Invictus . Except that the legend has a hidden face.
Behind the image of a country finally united, the time of a Rugby World Cup, suspicions about the victory of the "Springboks" have emerged in recent years. The mysterious poisoning of half of New Zealand, just before the final, is an example. But it is especially suspicions of doping that have been at the heart of the scandal. Four players from the 1995 team died prematurely, before their 50th birthday, the latest in early September, winger Chester Williams. For many experts, doping is the cause, but players have always denied. Europe 1 offers you to listen to the real story, behind the myth.