After the final whistle, they prayed together

The Springboks had won 43–28. The series stood at three matches to one. Then, after the force and noise of the Baltimore finish, players from South Africa and New Zealand gathered and knelt together in prayer.

The Citizen’s account describes Siya Kolisi speaking about the respect and friendships that survive the contest. It was a quieter picture from a day supporters had plenty of reason to celebrate.

A moment with room for different feelings

Victory and defeat produce very different journeys back to the changing room. One side has achieved what it came to do. The other must work through a result it wanted to avoid. Gathering immediately afterwards places those experiences beside one another, while neither has had much time to settle.

For Christian supporters, prayer has room for both. Gratitude can be offered for strength, opportunity and the people who carried a team through its work. Disappointment can be brought honestly too. A person does not need a winning result before being able to turn towards God.

That is part of what makes the shared moment moving. The players had been opponents a few minutes earlier. They were still opponents in the sporting record. They could also recognise one another as men who had given a great deal to the same afternoon.

The relationships beneath the spectacle

Professional rugby asks the public to pay attention to performance: selections, errors, tackles, scores and the next result. That is the sport’s business, and it provides much of its excitement. Supporters invest feeling in the contest because winning matters.

A photograph such as this reveals another part of that life. The people inside the jerseys have relationships and beliefs that continue after the score is settled. Respect can be practised in the presence of disappointment, rather than postponed until everybody is satisfied.

There is no need to flatten the evening’s joy to appreciate that. A South African supporter can be delighted by the victory and moved by the prayer. Celebration and gratitude fit quite comfortably together.

For those watching from home

Many supporters will know the smaller version of this experience: prayer before setting off, thanksgiving after a difficult day, or a few moments together when words are otherwise hard to find. Seeing it in a public sporting setting can make that familiar practice visible on an unusually large stage.

The image does not tell us everything each participant believed or prayed. It does show a group willing to pause together after a demanding contest.

Baltimore gave Springbok supporters a result to remember. The prayer belongs in the memory of the evening too: bowed heads, opponents beside one another, and a moment in which the work of the day could be placed before God.

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