India, June 15 -- In the years immediately after apartheid, the new President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, found in sports a medium to impart his vision of reconciliation to a nation at odds with its racial diversity. When South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995, Mandela offered the slogan, "One team, One country", to bring together a deeply divided nation. Rugby was the preferred sport of White South Africans, and Mandela's endorsement of the Springboks, exemplified by his appearance in a team jersey at the finals in Johannesburg, was a significant moment in that country's political and sporting history. South Africa won that final, an event on which Clint Eastwood made the 2009 movie, Invictus.

At Lord's on Saturday, South ...