Sean Fitzpatrick pays tribute to Nelson Mandela

All Blacks great Sean Fitzpatrick after losing the Rugby World Cup final match to South Africa at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, in 1995. Photo / Ross Setford

All Blacks great Sean Fitzpatrick has paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, saying meeting him and playing in South Africa was a dream come true.

Fitzpatrick first met the former South African leader in 1992 when the All Blacks toured the republic as the first sports team allowed back into South Africa after the breakdown of the apartheid regime.

He said the experience was amazing because he had grown up doubting New Zealand would get to play South Africa again on the international stage.

"It was quite an eventful and moving time with Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk and everything over there going on and or me personally I never thought I would go there," he said.

"We grew up through the 1960s and 70s and saw the 1981 tour - they were our greatest foe and as a rugby player I became an All Black and I just assumed I would never go to South Africa."

"So to get the opportunity was a dream come true and to be there through all of that for the comings and goings at that time was an amazing experience."

Fitzpatrick said the memory of seeing Mandela walk on to Ellis Park three years later clad in a Springbok jersey in front of a stadium of tens of thousands of adoring fans before the 1995 Rugby World Cup final at Ellis Park was unforgettable.

While Josh Kronfeld's Mandela memories included seeing heavily-armed security guards and soldiers manning the roof with high-powered rifles and fearing for the South African leader's safety Fitzpatrick said he was absorbed by the significance of the occasion.

"I just thought it was the most unbelievable atmosphere," said Fitzpatrick from London.

"We didn't know that he was going to come into the stadium and just to feel the power he filled the stadium with was quite phenomenal."

Fitzpatrick who is the deputy chairman of sports foundation Laureus said another enduring memory was a speech Mandela gave as its founding patron in Monaco in 2000.

"He said that sport has the power to change the world, to inspire and to unite people which I will always take with me...it was a wonderful speech."