Rugby and the rainbow nation: can 2023 World Cup heal South Africa's wounds?

The Springboks’ days of dominance seem over but as they begin their autumn internationals in Dublin on Saturday there is new hope of resolving the issues that have haunted them since their return to world rugby 25 years ago Twenty-five years ago, on a sunlit winter afternoon in Johannesburg, South Africa’s isolation from world rugby ended amid the slow death of apartheid. As the all-white Springboks faced the All Blacks, Nelson Mandela had been out of prison for two and a half years. Another 20 months would pass before Mandela became president – but he already wielded real power and generosity…