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Cape Town - Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has thanked the nation following his side's historic Rugby World Cup win on Saturday.
The Boks beat England 32-12 and bossed them in all departments on their way to a third Webb Ellis Cup.
A clearly emotional Kolisi, who is South Africa's first black rugby captain, had an inspirational message for his country when he was interviewed in the minutes following the full-time whistle.
"We are so grateful to the people of South Africa," Kolisi said.
"We have so many problems in our country but a team like this, we come from different backgrounds, different races but we came together with one goal and we wanted to achieve it.
"I really hope we've done that for South Africa. Just shows that we can pull together if we want to achieve something."
He said coach Rassie Erasmus had told the team they were not just playing for themselves but for all the people in South Africa, which is suffering an economic crisis with unemployment hovering around 30 percent.
And Kolisi said the Springboks had received countless messages from home as the nation got behind his team.
"Since I've been alive, I've never seen South Africa like this," he said.
"Thank you so much. We love you South Africa and we can achieve anything if we work together as one," said the captain.
Erasmus, who is stepping down as head coach after the World Cup, said the support had driven the team to new heights.
"To the Springbok supporters, I would like to say we never felt alone here in Japan. We felt them all the way," said Erasmus.
"Not just the supporters in Japan but also those back home. All the messages, all the WhatsApps, all the Facebook, the Twitter feed. We know there's millions there and we know they support us.
"We love them and I can't wait to get back home."
Scorers:
England 12 (6)
Penalties: Owen Farrell (4)
SA 32 (12)
Tries: Makazole Mapimpi, Cheslin Kolbe
Conversions: Handre Pollard (2)
Penalties: Handre Pollard (6)
