Soweto has come a long way, though not yet all the way

There was a public holiday in South Africa on Thursday. 

As Joe Schmidt named his Ireland side to face the wounded Springboks at Ellis Park this afternoon, the suburban Johannesburg shopping mall to which the tourists’ team hotel is attached, was abuzz with citizens making the most of their down time.

Judging by conversations this correspondent has had with locals as well as fellow journalists who were here in the same suburb of Sandton seven years previously when the British & Irish Lions pitched their tents, this is a different hubbub to post-apartheid times past, even as recently as 2009.