This was the first major event to be held in the Rainbow Nation, and with Mandela and Desmond Tutu adopting the Springbok symbols the nation got behind the 'one team, one country' slogan.
Mr McCarthy was brought in specifically to improve the schools' results but stressed that it was very much a team effort, driven by the slogan "good teaching is not good enough".
It might have been the perfect slogan, given the obvious conditions: They had been a bankrupt team and were trying to regain balance and increase a fan base in the most contradictory sports condition: playing hockey in the desert.