England bow to pressure and hire singer for South African national anthem

A singer for South Africa’s national anthem will be provided on Saturday before England’s match against the Springboks at Twickenham after the absence of one for opposition teams drew criticism.

For the recent Tests against New Zealand and Australia, just the backing music was played, as highlighted by Telegraph Sport.

Donnacha O’Callaghan, the former Ireland lock, speaking on The Offload podcast described Twickenham’s playing of opposition anthems as “absolutely disgraceful”, while referencing the furore around England’s response to the haka.

“Instead of poking fun at something that’s cultural and really important, [they need] to tidy up their own stuff,” O’Callaghan said. “I think England’s playing of the opposition’s anthems is absolutely disgraceful. They just play it really poorly, and they always have. [They] don’t turn the speakers up and just do poor renditions of it.

Addressing O’Callaghan’s comments, Telegraph Sport described the decision to not have a singer perform the opposition anthem as disrespectful.

Telegraph Sport readers also reacted to the lack of a singer for the New Zealand Test, with one All Blacks supporter writing that “it was abundantly clear the RFU were intentionally devaluing our national anthem. I was really disappointed”, with another adding “no wonder England find themselves as the most unpopular team”.

This Saturday, however, Innocent Masuku, an opera singer and a 2024 finalist of Britain’s Got Talent, will perform Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika before kick-off at Twickenham, with the RFU noting that Masuku is “currently working on his debut album, inspired by his South African heritage, operatic background, and love for iconic crossover music”. England’s anthem on Saturday will be performed by the singer and songwriter, Kuill.

A recorded version of the New Zealand anthem, God Defend New Zealand, was also played before the All Blacks’ win over Ireland last Friday in Dublin, with the recording noticeably cutting out before the conclusion of the anthem.