When Handré Pollard slotted that 78th minute penalty to put the Springboks into the lead for the first time against England, I cheered and then had a chilling flashback to 42 years ago.
The moment the score ticked over to 16-15, I was taken back to a wet Newlands in 1981, watching my club team Villagers play against False Bay.
It was basically the Villagers second team, with a few exceptions, but even they were expected to handle the Bay, an outfit that no longer resembled the championship-winning XV of 1972.
Villagers had only recently taken the lead at the top of the Grand Challenge log and False Bay were supposed to be easy meat.
Most of the stars were not playing, because of call-ups for Western Province and the provincial B team, who were playing, if I recall correctly, at Loftus Versfeld.
Centre Michael Gluckman and winger Jeremy Pinn were playing at the Maccabi Games in a South African team littered with first-team club players, some of them with provincial caps to their names.
Pinn got a WP call-up the following year, but Gluckman was unlucky to never crack the nod, being overlooked for a Maties player who wasn’t his equal.
Anyway, Villagers raced into an early lead, putting 12 quick points on the board. And then, as I got comfortable thinking the game was in the bag, Villagers fell asleep and False Bay burst to life.
The Bay fought back, reducing the gap and finally taking a 15-12 lead late in the second half, and that finally seemed to rip Villagers from their slumber.
They attacked with purpose and were eventually rewarded with a try out wide to make the score 16-15 (tries were four points back then).
When England led 15-6 it took me back to the first cup final I ever watched live in 1979. The main curtain-raiser for the Grand Challenge final between Villagers and Maties was the decider for the second division, between Ikeys and Maties.
In those days, they played with a heavy leather ball that probably doubled in weight in the wet. Kicks were not guaranteed, whether at the poles or even the touchline.
I’d even seen Western Province struggle in the wet at Newlands. Trailing Free State 6-9 in a Currie Cup match in 1980, captain Morne du Plessis, also the Villagers and Bok skipper, asked lock Hennie Bekker take a shy at goals after a young Colin Beck missed a few attempts.
Bekker missed too and Du Plessis had to score the winning try from a pushover to secure a 12-9 victory.
The Villagers kicker missed the conversion and the analogue stadium clock showed about five minutes remaining.
False Bay restarted play and Villagers lock Moose Burger was penalised on the 10-metre line from the kickoff. Their flyhalf, Andy Calmeyer, opted to take the kick. It was no sitter, and we watched anxiously as he positioned the ball on a pile of sand (the ball boys carried sand buckets to the kickers).
Calmeyer strode in and hoofed a perfect shot. From the side-on view on the grandstand it was clear the ball had the height and distance, and we knew the direction was good when the linesmen raised their flags. Bay were back in the lead, at 18-16, and the stadium clock showed three or four minutes.
There was still a glimmer of hope, except the referee blew the final whistle. Perhaps the stadium clock was wrong, but either way, the game was over and Villagers had lost, slipping off the top of the log.
So you will understand why I was extra nervous in those last two minutes of the Rugby World Cup semifinal on Saturday night.
Ironically, when England led 15-6 it took me back to the first cup final I ever watched live in 1979. The main curtain-raiser for the Grand Challenge final between Villagers and Maties was the decider for the second division, between Ikeys and Maties.
It was basically the UCT second team against the Maties third team, but there were still three players with Western Province caps on show — Rob Bolus and Paul Anderson for Stellenbosch and Dirk Hoffman for Varsity.
A howling north-westerly wind that ripped a section of roof off the Railway Stand greeted the players with rain and mud.
But UCT pulled off what seemed to be a surprise 15-6 victory. The trophy handover took place inside the stadium, beyond the view of the spectators, but the UCT captain came out soon afterwards, holding the cup aloft in the rain, to the delight of the UCT fans (Villagers and Maties drew 3-3 in the main game).
Playing in the rain can be tough.
May Saturday’s full moon over Stade de France bless the Boks with her beams.
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