Victorious Springbok captain Siya Kolisi poured cold water on the allegations that All Blacks centre Jordie Barrett refused to shake President Cyril Ramaphosa’s hand during the medal and trophy ceremony following the 2023 Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France in Paris.
Don’t believe everything you see on the internet. This is according to Siya Kolisi in the wake of the storm in a tea cup that involved Cyril Ramaphosa and Jordie Barrett.
A video on Tik Tok showed an “incident” in which the All Blacks centre allegedly snubbed the handshake of the president of South Africa during the medals and trophy ceremony which followed the epic 2023 Rugby World Cup final that the Springboks won 12-11 at the Stade de France in Paris.
While this unsurprisingly caused anger and maelstrom of other reactions from sections of South African Twitter, there was a noticeable amount of skeptical observers who were convinced that the moment was taken out of context. Speaking at a press conference following the Springboks’ triumphant return home at OR Tambo International in Johannesburg, captain confirmed that Barrett shook Ramaphosa’s hand as he and his brother Beauden received their runners-up medals.
Kolisi said:
“On a more sensitive note, I don’t know if you guys have seen, but after the game there was a video that went on TikTok about Jordie Barrett, where somebody thinks he did not shake the president’s hand. Obviously it’s tough losing a world cup final. Getting that negative media attention is not good.
“I know him personally. He is not that kind of person. The video was taken probably after he’d obviously shook the president’s hand. We just want to say that we as the South African team – I spoke to Jacques (Nienaber) about it – We are fully behind him and respect him. Please give him some slack. Let’s just celebrate.
“There is nothing worse than losing a game and being on social media getting these kind of messages. It’s really been tough for him, the team and his family. As the South African team we are all behind him.
“He DID shake the president’s hand.”
The match will hold a particularly painful moment for Barrett, and no, it is not when Bok bruiser Pieter-Steph Du Toit levelled him near the end of the epic. Instead, it is when he missed a difficult penalty kick from the halfway line at an awkward angle with seven minutes to. This would have put New Zealand into a 14-12 lead with South Africa having to chase the game while running on empty.
During the aforementioned ceremony, the cameras caught Barrett fighting back the tears as he watched the victors get their winners medals and Kolisi putting his hands on the William Webb Ellis trophy once again.
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