But anti-apartheid leader Mandela - the man ''who had the power to decide how people would react'' - united South Africa and changed a nation forever.

Mandela died aged 95 on Friday morning Australian time.

Rathbone grew up in South Africa and was captain of the country's under-21s rugby union team before moving to Canberra to play for the Brumbies.

He still remembers fearing a ''bloodbath'' as Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail, was made the racially torn country's president in 1994.

''There were police and military at our schools, I remember the tension … we recognised we were lucky [Mandela] came out of prison and was talking about peace, tolerance and reconciliation,'' Rathbone said.

''Had he come out of prison and spoken about violence, retribution and revenge … we could have seen massive bloodbaths in South Africa. The fact he embraced peace, the transition is unprecedented and that's a massive tribute to him.''

Mandela used rugby, traditionally a sport for white people in South Africa, as one of the tools to unite the country as the ''rainbow nation''.

Mandela presenting the Springboks with the 1995 World Cup at Ellis Park in Johannesburg was a massive moment in the country's history.

And some of the Brumbies used Mandela as inspiration on their Super Rugby journey this year.

Players visited Mandela's cell at Robben Island, where Mandela was jailed for 18 years, when in Cape Town in March.

Former Brumbies coach Jake White and captain Ben Mowen went to Mandela's Pretoria hospital to visit the leader before their semi-final against the Bulls in July.

They intended to give him flowers and a Brumbies jersey but the former president was too sick to receive visitors.

Other players also visited the hospital - just a few blocks from the team hotel - where there were constant crowds of well-wishers.

The Brumbies boast a big South African contingent on their playing roster with new recruits Lionel Cronje and Conrad Hoffmann moving to Canberra last month to join twins Ruan and J.P. Smith and Stefan van der Walt.

Rathbone, Stephen Moore and Stephen Larkham met Mandela at Ellis Park before a Wallabies-Springboks game in 2005.

''We ran out of the change room and he was standing to the side - it was surreal,'' Rathbone said. ''At that point I'd only ever seen him on television. I don't really believe in putting people on pedestal or being in awe of people.

''But it's hard to ignore someone with that presence, I remember definitely being affected by him being there.

''I'd grown up through the era of apartheid … Nelson Mandela was such a prominent figure.''