SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY president Mark Alexander has slammed some of the seven Super Rugby Unlocked clubs for not fielding enough black players.
In a letter to the teams, he pointed out the Pumas from northeastern city Mbombela had chosen only two black squad members for a match against the Stormers last month.
Alexander also said he was unable to justify to the nation’s sports minister, Nathi Mthethwa, why all seven coaches in the tournament are white.
Six of the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup winning starting lineup last year were black. That figure would probably have been higher had tighthead prop Trevor Nyakane not been injured during the tournament and forced to return home.
“The success of the World Cup is not a get out of the jail free card for those who oppose [racial] transformation. It is the opposite — proof that there is no excuse for under-performance,” he said.
“These are unprecedented times, but this does not mean that our transformation goals can be restricted.
“Some of you will probably be summoned to explain your lack of transformation to the minister,” Alexander added in the letter.
The South African Rugby president was also dissatisfied with the composition of teams in a national under-21 championship which finished this past weekend, with Free State and the Bulls in particular fielding just 26% and 30% black players respectively — followed by the Sharks (37%), Western Province (39%) and the Lions (60%).
Rugby in South Africa was racially segregated under apartheid with the Springboks fielding exclusively white teams for 90 years before Errol Tobias, a black man, was selected for a 1981 Test against Ireland.
Many white people believed rugby to be exclusively ‘their sport’ even though thousands of black individuals loved, followed and played the sport, particularly in the eastern Cape.
The birth of a multiracial state in 1994 had virtually no immediate effect on the national side with winger Chester Williams the lone black player in the 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning team.
Indeed, little had changed by the time South Africa conquered the world again in 2007, lifting the World Cup with just two black players in their makeup, wingers JP Pietersen and Bryan Habana.
Black representation has improved drastically over the past three years under the watch of national director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, the former Munster boss who doubled up as the Springboks’ head coach for their most recent World Cup success. One of his first decisions at the helm was to name black back row Siya Kolisi as captain.
Erasmus and Kolisi quickly put behind them two years of humiliating losses, including twice conceding 57 points against greatest rivals New Zealand and falling to Italy for the first time.
The recovery and racial transformation of the team reached a climax last November when South Africa outplayed England 32-12 in the final in Japanese city Yokohama.
Both Springbok tries in the title decider was scored by black players, Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe.
South Africa have not played since due to the coronavirus pandemic with 13 Tests at home and away wiped out by the pandemic.
The goal of Erasmus and new coach Jacques Nienaber is to consistently field Springbok matchday squads including no less than seven black players.
