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JOHANNESBURG. — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has fired the opening salvo at his United Kingdom counterpart Boris Johnson ahead of Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama. Ramaphosa had told Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi prior to Sunday’s semi-final to book his ticket to Japan so he could help lift the Webb Ellis Cup — much like former President Nelson Mandela did in 1995 and Thabo Mbeki in 2007.

Ramaphosa took to his Twitter account to post a video of himself speaking to the national skipper in Japan.

“I must say that I’m so proud of you and the team as well. You guys have done extremely well,” said Ramaphosa, as Kolisi thanked him.

“I just wanted to wish you well for the semi-final and I know you will do extremely well. You’ve got 57 million South Africans standing behind you.

“I’m coming to the final, I’m coming to lift the Webb Ellis trophy with you. So make sure you book my ticket to the final,” he added.

The Springboks duly obliged, beating Wales 19-16 to book their berth in next Saturday’s final against England who eliminated defending champions New Zealand — 19-7 — from title contention in their semi-final.

Following the final whistle, Ramaphosa once again took to Twitter to write: “See you on Saturday BoJo@BorisJohnsonwhen you will be watching Siya, the team and I hoist high Webb Ellis Cup. A STERLING showing once again by the@Springboks. Our national teams have just been doing amazingly on the international stage.#WALvRSA #RWC201 #StrongerTogether.”

Kick-off in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final on Saturday is at 11am (Zimbabwean time). — AFP.