Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika: Springboks Anthem Singer Nicole Magolie in High Spirits Despite Mixed Reaction

• Nicole Magolie's rendition of the national anthem last Saturday continues to be a talking point
• She performed Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika before the Springboks took on Italy in Genoa unusually slowly
• Despite the negative response to her performance as well as the backing band, she appeared to brush this off in her stead

Nicole Magolie is currently the centre of discussion among the South African rugby fraternity.

She sang an unusually slow version of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika before the Springboks Autumn Nations Series Test match against Italy at the Estadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa. This led to mixed responses to the performance from bemused spectators at the venue and viewers from home.

Magolie, just before returning to South Africa, posted on her Facebook page:

"Hello from Milano airport. I think these images are able to express the great joy felt yesterday at the stadium and on that field singing the anthem of my land. I found the live backing track a little slow... but I adapted and the evident and palpable emotion of the Springbok and the South African fans present positively overwhelmed me too. It was beautiful and I received dozens and dozens of compliment messages. THANK YOU EVERYONE ❤️❤️"

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There have been past flash points regarding the rendition of the anthem before matches. In 2009 before a Test against France, Ras Dumisani cemented himself in infamy for his shockingly bad performance.

During the announcement of the Springbok squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Ard Matthews forgot the words to the anthem on live television. Then in 2014, the crowd at Newlands movingly completed the anthem when the stadium's studio speakers failed before the Boks took on the World XV

Video: Another… interesting… rendition of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika involving the Springboks

The Springboks had an interesting start to their match against Italy in Genoa on Saturday.

Nicole Magolie sang 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, doing so in an unusually slow manner which got people chattering on social media in response, as reported by Sports Brief.

This harked back to the instances when Ras Dumisani and Ard Matthews made an absolute mess of the anthem, too much controversy.