1995 All Blacks boss refuses to watch Invictus as it’s ‘someone’s twisted version’ of the truth
Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in their roles as Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar with an inset of ex-All Blacks coach Luarie Mains.
Former All Blacks head coach Laurie Mains refuses to watch the award-winning movie ‘Invictus’ as he believes it to be a ‘twisted’ version of events.
The story follows Nelson Mandela’s journey through the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the role it played in uniting an Apartheid-torn South Africa.
Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were cast as the lead actors in the movie, portraying Mandela and Bok captain Francois Pienaar, respectively.
Mains refuses to watch Invictus
Heading into the tournament, hosts South Africa were underdogs and were largely written off as title contenders, having spent much of the years in the build-up to the World Cup in sporting exile.
However, the Boks upset the odds and reached the final where they tackled their old foe, the All Blacks, in the final, who were coached by Mains.
80 minutes couldn’t separate the teams, who were tied at nine points apiece, meaning the game went into extra time. Fly-half Joel Stranksy nailed a match-winning drop goal to seal a 15-12 victory and clinch their first World Cup title, doing so on their first attempt.
While the tournament and Boks feature prominently in the film, it is more centred around the racial and political challenges South Africa faced at the time.
However, it did not touch on Mains’ real gripe from the final, as he believes that his squad was poisoned by a mysterious waitress named Suzie on the Thursday before the match. A stance that he maintains to this day.
In an interview with Dom Harvey, the former coach said that he has not and will not watch film.
“I haven’t seen it,” he replied when asked if he was happy with the actor cast to depict him.
“I would have had trouble believing that it was a true account of what happened, so I didn’t want to get infuriated by going to see someone’s twisted version.”
In the interview, the 79-year-old also addressed his strained relationship with Rassie Erasmus, who he coached at the Cats, and revealed that he hired a private detective to investigate his suspicions of foul play before the 1995 final.
“I was more supportive. Colin Meads was very, very good with the guys,” he replied when asked about how he reacted to the defeat at Ellis Park.
“Of all the games we played, they probably played their heart out more in that final than in any of the others. There was just a limit as to how much they could give.
“I still feel so sorry for those players whenever this is talked about. I hurt for them because they were the ones who actually had the illness. I had it, Colin and Brian Lochore had it. Colin was pretty badly affected, but we all felt sorry for the players, knowing they couldn’t do what they were doing a week earlier.”
READ MORE: Quiz: Can you name the 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks?