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Cape Town - If the Springboks started their own political party, with 28-year-old Siya Kolisi as their leader, how many votes do you think they would get if national elections were to be held right now?
It's a futile exercise, but one that does make you think.
The Bok trophy tour, which started in Johannesburg on Thursday and ended in Cape Town on Monday, has been a stunning display of what this country is capable of when everyone is on the same page with a common cause.
Along the way, it has seen the Boks go to all corners from the Durban CBD to the townships of the Eastern Cape in Mdantsane, New Brighton and Zwide.
On Monday, Cape Town won the battle of the CBDs on this tour as the city centre became a sea of colour with people crammed into bars, restaurants and offices to get closer to the Boks.
Some went as far as climbing trees and traffic lights to get a better view.
It then moved onto Langa, Belhar and the Cape Flats - areas rich in history when it comes to mass action against the apartheid regime.
The tour, in addition to providing a refresher into how far South Africa has come since those dark days, has highlighted the vast difference in living conditions between the middle and lower class in the country.
It has given a voice to previously sidelined fans of this sport and it has made superstars out of men who, not so long ago, were labelled 'quota' selections.
It has given hope to those communities. It has given them a sense of pride.
Those are the reasons why this World Cup win is about so much more than rugby and that is why Kolisi and his men have pushed beyond the limits to reach as many people as possible.
How the skipper is still standing is a mystery.
He has been a part of the tour since the very beginning, missing only the final hours of the Port Elizabeth leg as he jetted off to Durban for the SA Sports Awards on Sunday.
By early Monday morning, though, Kolisi was back with the Boks as they started the Cape Town tour.
I spoke to him briefly when the Boks had a break at the City Hall, and when he looked at me his fatigue was so blatantly obvious.
Yet, even though he was quite literally struggling to keep his eyes open, Kolisi showed one more time how well he has taken to leadership.
Addressing thousands who had camped outside City Hall, chanting 'Siya, Siya!', Kolisi challenged South Africa to put racial division to bed once and for all.
"Just take a look around you. There are different races and different people of different backgrounds," he said.
"But look how you've made this special for us.
"It's time for us South Africans to stop fighting, stop arguing, put South Africa first and move forward for the country."
During that short speech, Kolisi had done more for social cohesion in South Africa than most politicians will do in a lifetime.
When he was first given the captaincy in June 2018, Kolisi could not have known the responsibility that awaited him.
He has always been a soft-spoken and somewhat shy man and coach Rassie Erasmus acknowledged during the World Cup that the weight of the captaincy had affected Kolisi's game in the beginning.
Today, however, Kolisi not only understands the social significance of his captaincy, but he embraces it.
Unity has been the key theme of this trophy tour for the Springboks, and if Kolisi could keep going for another week to reach as many people as possible with that message, then he would.
But there is only so much the body can take.
The Springboks have made a nation proud with what they achieved on the field in Yokohama, but what they have done for South Africa since then is far more important.
Now, as the dust starts to settle, Kolisi, the players and staff have finally earned a break away from the spotlight with their families and loved ones.
We will all go back to our lives, and the problems that existed before the 2019 Rugby World Cup will still be there.
Nobody is naive enough to think otherwise.
The hope, though, is that everybody in this country will remember the time South Africa and the Springboks celebrated together and that when they linger on those memories, they do so with a smile.
South Africa can be so proud of itself.
*** Lloyd Burnard is travelling with the Springboks on their 2019 World Cup trophy tour as a guest of FNB …
