TOKYO, JAPAN – NOVEMBER 02: Makazole Mapimpi of South Africa at the changing room after the Rugby World Cup 2019 Final match between England and South Africa at International Stadium Yokohama on November 02, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images)
Mapimpi dedicates performance to boys from rural areas
Makazole Mapimpi has come a long way from Tsholomnqa in the rural Eastern Cape to the Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama.
TOKYO, JAPAN – NOVEMBER 02: Makazole Mapimpi of South Africa at the changing room after the Rugby World Cup 2019 Final match between England and South Africa at International Stadium Yokohama on November 02, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images)
Springbok wing Makazole Mapimpi hopes to be an inspiration to boys from rural areas after becoming the first South African to score a try in a Rugby World Cup final.
Mapimpi ended the tournament as the joint-top try scorer and told reporters after the match just how far he has come.
Coming a long way
Born in rural Eastern Cape in 1990, Mapimpi did not attend one of South Africa’s ‘Springbok factories’, the future Sharks wing attended Jim Mvabasa Senior Secondary School in King Williams Town.
Mapimpi would like his exploits on Rugby’s grandest stage to inspire boys who don’t attend private schools to believe in themselves and chase after their dreams.
“It means a lot for me because I’m coming from a long way. I’m blessed. I’m from the rural areas,” Mapimpi said.
“I didn’t make the South Africa schools (team). It means a lot for me, but also for boys from rural areas, the boys who didn’t go to private schools.
“This is a big achievement for me, it’s my first World Cup and I win the World Cup.”
Mapimpi unaware of achievement
It hadn’t occurred to Mapimpi that he had made history when he scored the try that crushed England’s hopes of a second Rugby World Cup title.
“I got the ball from Malcolm (Marx), I saw Lukhanyo on my inside, I chipped the ball, he got the ball back and then I saw there was no one in front of me.”
Four years ago when the Springboks bowed out in the Rugby World Cup semifinals, Mapimpi was playing rugby as a pasttime and didn’t dare to dream that he could make it as a professional. It would only be in 2017 that he sealed a contract with the Southern Kings, but since then his rise has been meteoric.
“I remember five years back, I was playing Sunday-league club rugby,” said Mapimpi, close to tears as he spoke to reporters.
“There’s no professional league in the rural areas and one of my friends told me ‘you can make it man’. I told the guy ‘No, bro, no one is watching me. We are too far from the system.’
“I got a call asking me to play for Southern Kings and I started to believe ‘one day, I can make it’.”
Mapimpi has progressed phenomenally as a player since first joining the Kings, going on to form one of the most exciting back threes in Super Rugby at the Sharks alongside fellow Springbok Sbu Nkosi and future Bok Aphelele Fassi. One of the areas he has shown the greatest improvement is his ability in the air. He was particularly strong in the air against England twice stripping the ball from the Roses kick receivers.
The Springboks did a great job of playing down their abilities, even going to great lengths to explain why Mapimpi seldom kicks the ball, but his deft chip is another demonstration of his amazing progression as a footballer.
Having suffered a succession of tragic losses in his early life, Mapimpi says rugby gives him an escape and takes his mind off the trauma.
“I’ve seen a lot of things. Things I don’t like,” he said.
“A lot of things happen in South Africa that affect us. We fight to push those things away. Girls getting raped, things like that.”
Mapimpi has scored 14 in just 14 Tests for the Springboks and together with Cheslin Kolbe has ramped up the national team’s finishing ability exponentially.
