'People were getting stabbed and killed...that was normality'

As I'm sitting here, something is definitely happening out there which is the same as the mental image I have from 'A growing up," Cheslin Kolbe says of the danger he senses on a quiet morning in Cape Town.

When he was a boy Kolbe saw people being shot and stabbed on the Cape Flats and he describes the terrible murder of a childhood friend, whose tongue was also cut out, just before the Springbok wing won the first of his two World Cup winner's medals in 2019.

Kolbe is now one of the best and richest players in world rugby.

On a break back home, before he returns to Japan to resume playing for Tokyo Sungoliath, the 30-year old is in the mood to reflect on his extraordinary journey from poverty and gangland violence, and to explain how rugby has the capacity to offer hope in a brutalised country.

But Kolbe admits that the haunting memories cannot be easily shaken: "That's the sad part. An image gets stuck in your head but it can help you to humble yourself. It can take you back to where you've come from, what it's taken to overcome challenges in your life. I know I'm now in a much more fortunate position than so many in my community or across South Africa." Kolbe stresses that he also has many beautiful memories including the rapturous reception the Springboks received last year when they returned home from France to show joyous black and white South Africans the World Cup trophy they had just retained "2019 was massive but it doesn't come anywhere close to last year," he says.

"We saw unbelievable scenes where all the smiles on people's faces, from young to old, showed how rugby brings so much joy in South Africa. For us as players, having that impact and those memories will last forever.