Aspiring future rugby stars from the Eye of the Tiger Rugby Academy say the stories of both Siya Kolisi and Makazoli Mapimpi gives them enough hope to come out on top one day. Most of the boys at the academy come from rural communities and where schools do not have rugby.

The Eye of the Tiger which is a women led national rugby academy, was launched in 2011 and have produced a number of professional rugby players who come from disadvantaged and rural areas across the country.

The main objective of the academy is to ensure that there are enough young rugby players, with enough talent, to be passed on to the current SA Rugby Unions and ultimately the Springboks, and to support the country‘s call for transformation in rugby.

The President of the Eye of the Tiger Rugby Academy, Viwe Qegu, says the euphoria of winning the rugby world cup inspired most of their boys.

Qegu says her boys come from the farm areas, if not from the farm areas then from informal settlements, single parents that are pushing really hard to see them excel. They come from the backgrounds that assimilates themselves with where Mapimpi and the captain Kolisi are coming from. I am actually so happy that some of the boys can see themselves in the success mood and not in the mood where they are coming from.