Pleasing the politicians
26 Oct 2009
Colour remains an issue when it comes to national rugby team selections, writes Keo in his weekly Business Day column.
In the latest issue of SA Rugby magazine Springbok coach Peter de Villiers defends his stance towards transformation. De Villiers says he will not play a numbers game because it will do players more harm than good.
De Villiers, in defending why he only picked two non-white wingers and a Zimbabwean-born prop in his Springbok team that won the Tri-Nations, argues his team has been transformed because the colour of a player’s skin does not matter any more.
If you believe merit selection is the only way, it gets even better because De Villiers tells his critics, among them the Transformation Committee, to get lost, asking what contribution have they made.
But it is one thing to talk a good game and quite another to play it, and the playing of this transformation game will come with the Springbok squad selection for the five-match tour of Europe.
De Villiers will take 37 players for the three-Tests and two midweek matches, but already indications are that despite his bullish stance on only seeing players and not colour, the colour of a player’s skin will indeed dictate certain selections.
De Villiers will take three hookers and three scrumhalves, yet two players who have been bits and pieces selections in this year’s Currie Cup are certainties to tour. Chiliboy Ralepelle, at hooker, and Ricky Januarie, at scrumhalf, will be selected, despite not being the premier provincial selections in their respective positions.
De Villiers could argue that if he was selecting those provincial sides he would be picking them and that is why he is doing it now, but in the case of hookers the whispers are that not only will he select Ralepelle, but the Bulls’ third choice hooker Bandise Maku is also going to make the trip.
Where does this leave the Bulls’ first choice hooker Derick Kuun or the very impressive Western Province hooker Tiaan Liebenberg? Would the selection of Maku ahead of either send out the wrong message that Springbok touring squads are still a black numbers game, designed to bluff the public and appease the politicians.
When picking a squad of 37 there is always room for calling a black player bluff, as we’ve seen so many times in the past. You only have to ask what happened to Solly Tyibilika, Hilton Lobberts, Kabamba Floors and Hanyani Shimange’s Test careers. And let’s not even go further back to other players who are victims of black player politicking.
This tour should be about winning Tests and developing the next tier of player that can go beyond the 2011 World Cup. It should also be a tour that defines there has been a shift towards merit selection at a Bok level.
I doubt it will be, though, and another selection that will ask more questions than it gives answers is if De Villiers picks Earl Rose ahead of Western Province’s Joe Pietersen or the Sharks’ Stefan Terblanche, with the latter two being the best fullbacks in the Currie Cup.
Rose has been poor all season and while De Villiers has invested in him at a national level for the last year, he still has not picked Rose to play in a Test match. Currently there are players more deserving of wearing green and gold.
Juan de Jongh, the outstanding Western Province midfielder, is a tour prospect, but he is a player very much in the mould of Adi Jacobs and selecting both is a luxury. In an ideal sporting world, it should be one or the other, but as we know South African rugby is never ideal and it certainly is not a sporting world.
Politics will sadly play a part with the Bok squad selection and despite what De Villiers may publicly say colour is an issue when it comes to national rugby team selections. It is sad because there are so many good players deserving of selection, simply because they are good players.
There are fine black and coloured players in this country, with many of them the best in their positions. Pick those players because they deserve to be there.
The midweek Bok side would on merit include several black and coloured players. The Test side, on merit, totals less than a handful. That is the reality and when De Villiers picked two non-white wingers and a Zimbabwean prop he was picking the best available black talent.
He needs to remain true to this view, however unpopular it is in the Portfolio Committee, because it only needs one obvious non-merit selection to undermine every black merit selection.
Saturday’s squad selection could be monumental for who isn’t picked, but something tells me it will be all too familiar and all too political.
554 Comments
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27 Oct 2009, 00:40 am
#498 Robzim:
27 Oct 2009, 00:43 am
#493 4man:
Is that a 30.06 MOA bullet drop, or 30.06 inches at 1000 m?
If it is 30.06 MOA, then it means actually bullet drop over that distance is (conveniently) 30.06 metres.
If it is inches, then bullet drop is 7.63 metres.
#499 cab:
You are thinking of the Heckler & Koch MP5. Comes in a variety of choices nowadays, but the coolest one in my opinion is the H&K MP5SD…
27 Oct 2009, 00:44 am
#501 WP Till I Die:
By the way, if 30.08 inches at 1000m, that equates to an MOA adjustment of 7.63 for bullet drop, that’s a pretty damn good ballistic coefficient for that range.
27 Oct 2009, 00:50 am
you okes know your artillery, i thought they also loaded the bullets with a certain charge or grain for long range target shooting?
how does the T1 abrahams battle tank compare?
27 Oct 2009, 00:51 am
#495 Robzim: awesome. I can see them in there “Photo Comics” now.
27 Oct 2009, 00:51 am
LOL – i better hit the sack, cheers WPTID.
27 Oct 2009, 00:52 am
#501 WP Till I Die: Are you talking about Morne Steyn or Frans Steyn?
They seem to be still going as they sail over the crossbar to me.
27 Oct 2009, 00:53 am
#505 cab: What’s that under your pillow?
27 Oct 2009, 00:54 am
#472 4man:
As far as I’m aware, the Mauser Model 1892 and 1895 rifles the Boers used were chambered in a 7mm calibre. The Lee-Metfords and Lee-Enfields used by the Brits were .303 (or 7.7mm).
It was a 7x57mm cartridge (for the Mauser), with a 140 grain bullet, muzzle velocity of 3000 ft/s, and a muzzle energy of 2,390 foot pounds.
The British .303 cartridge (7.7x56mm) had a 150 grain bullet, muzzle velocity of 2770 ft/s, and a muzzle energy of 2,554 foot pounds.
The two cartridges were the same length (about 78mm).
4man, I think you are thinking of the (lower-velocity) Mauser 7.92x57mm cartridge adopted by Germany later on (1905 or thereabouts) and used by them in WWI and WWII.
27 Oct 2009, 00:54 am
#508 WP Till I Die: Eish. Are you getting back at me for my music posts Yak Skier?
27 Oct 2009, 00:54 am
#506 SodaJoe:
27 Oct 2009, 00:55 am
i was in the pub the other day and these british okes from adgansistan had just got back and they were talking about all this stuff, apparently they were flyhing guys in on the sides of the appache helicopters – i nodded and scrached my chin for a bit, and then dissapeared to the toilet for a ****.
27 Oct 2009, 00:56 am
#507 SodaJoe:
my Os du Randt no 1 trui.
27 Oct 2009, 00:56 am
#509 SodaJoe:
Speaking of yaks, I saw a Tibetan western the other day…
27 Oct 2009, 00:58 am
#512 cab: Fok boet. I thought it was your Chamelot Delvigne.
27 Oct 2009, 00:59 am
#513 WP Till I Die: Was that the one with all the Chinamen flying through the air?
Hot stukkie and all.
I think I saw the trailer.
27 Oct 2009, 00:59 am
#478 4man:
That record is 2350 metres, as far as I know – recently achieved by a Canadian sniper in Afghanistan, yes. It was definitely with a .50-calibre weapon system, but not sure that it was a Barrett?
That being said, the record prior to that had stood almost thirty years to Carlos “White Feather “Hathcock in Vietnam (I recall you said you met his son or something at some stage in the States?) using a converted Browning M2.
27 Oct 2009, 01:00 am
#514 SodaJoe: I skeem I must be the best ever Wikipedia user. That was quite good.
27 Oct 2009, 01:01 am
#517 SodaJoe: The Chamelot Delvigne French 1873 (also known as MAS 1873 revolver) was an Double Action 11 millimeter calibre ordnance revolver (11,43mm) of the French Army, developed by Belgian gunsmith J. Chamelot and French officer Henri-Gustave Delvigne. It was adopted by the French Army in 1873.
I was the kid in Kid Colt.
27 Oct 2009, 01:01 am
#514 SodaJoe:
waddefok? speak engels ek se.
27 Oct 2009, 01:02 am
#515 SodaJoe:
Not quite…the one I watched is called Himalaya. Saga about the clash between a stubborn, headstrong and ageing chieftain and the impetuous, on-the-up young challenger to his authority, all against the backdrop of having to make a perilous journey with their yaks along sheer drops to obtain grazing during the winter months.
27 Oct 2009, 01:02 am
#518 SodaJoe:
Whahahahaha!
27 Oct 2009, 01:04 am
#519 cab: You my friend can call me Monsieur Kid Colt.
Or Lucky Luke.
I still Francois Steyn’s kick wasn’t dropping after 1000m.
27 Oct 2009, 01:04 am
#488 4man:
Dragunov SVD sniper rifle, perchance? Does it use the same 7.62mm round as the AK-47 and AK-74 family?
27 Oct 2009, 01:04 am
#492 cab:
No I was in 5Sai infantry tho I did get my golden rifle badge which for an ex Springs Boys Hillbrow Hippie weren’t too shabby, who had to shoot left handed because my right eye is fak’d from 50 mt stand, raise and fire, 100 and 200 kneel and lie, and 400 mt lie position to get a gold score of 220 from 250 maybe not in 4 man’s class but for a dumb *** veg eating hippie ain’t so kak sleg.
27 Oct 2009, 01:05 am
#522 SodaJoe:
hehe, was watching some highlights of the season, frans steyn kicked some absolute monsters, even before NZ. morne’s one at loftus to win 2nd test, also 55m, with all that pressure.
27 Oct 2009, 01:05 am
#520 WP Till I Die: Sounds like dinner at home.
With my son as the fkwit and me as the fk-up.
Threatening him with the “Dark Windswept Abyss of the Real World” where there are no Sherpas or Yak’s to get you out of the dwang.
27 Oct 2009, 01:06 am
#522 SodaJoe:
Yes, a very flat trajectory on Frans Steyn:
FRANS STEYN
Calibre: Size 14-boot
Muzzle velocity: Awesome
Effective range: Awesome
Muzzle energy: Awesome
27 Oct 2009, 01:07 am
I did 2 years of the fkn army, and to my credit and ingenuity NEVER TOUCHED A RIFLE ONCE.
27 Oct 2009, 01:08 am
#528 SodaJoe:
That is very impressive!
27 Oct 2009, 01:08 am
#525 cab: #527 WP Till I Die: Seriously – 2 Morne Steyn kicks under pressure (Lions & WP) & The Steyn monster. Plus The Diamond’s fetching.
Great rugby season, seriously.
Those 3 events were pretty brilliant.
And beating the All Blacks 3x.
27 Oct 2009, 01:09 am
#524 skopskiet:
LOL, why is your right eye stuffed? from the scope or the shooting position? i cracked mine on the scope first time, but thats cos i’m a soutie. ja, its all you old south africans, can shoot the fleas off a bulls knaaters at 500m.
27 Oct 2009, 01:09 am
#529 WP Till I Die: Boet I may have been the worst soldier in the history of the SADF.
27 Oct 2009, 01:12 am
#531 cab:
Naah…sometimes we miss the fleas on purpose, depending on the Bull
27 Oct 2009, 01:12 am
how u never touched a rifle once, we had to sleep with the R1′s under our pillows like they were our wives, either in camp or out in the Caprivi bush.
27 Oct 2009, 01:12 am
#531 cab: I can pick the fleas off my balles wif my mouf.
27 Oct 2009, 01:14 am
#526 SodaJoe:
haha, patience old ****.
Just relax, take it easy.
Youre still young, thats your fault,
Theres so much you have to know.
27 Oct 2009, 01:15 am
#534 skopskiet: Fk that never went to the bush either.
I did play in the Light Horse Band. The trombone.
And I promise you I cannot play a musical instrument to save my life.
Except the iPod.
The Light Horse Band also skopped me out, and I had a career in Defence Force Public Relations.
I did play at 2 funerals believe it or not – I can do a kind of reggae version of the Dead March From Saul. Parp Parp pop di parp.
27 Oct 2009, 01:17 am
#536 cab: This parenting thing is the definition of the double edged sword.
27 Oct 2009, 01:17 am
#533 WP Till I Die:
lol
#534 skopskiet:
haha, bladdy ridiculous. one’s just hopes your wee fella was away from the trigger.
27 Oct 2009, 01:18 am
#537 SodaJoe: Car crashes if you’re wondering.
27 Oct 2009, 01:18 am
It is a very strange sensation to be away from work. Today was my first day of leave – 22 to go.
But there are also ten exams to write and three weddings to attend, two of which I’m a groomsman.
I am going to be drunk for the whole of December…
27 Oct 2009, 01:19 am
Ok I better leave now before I completely incriminate myself and give away my secret identity.
Au revoir. Tot siens.
See you through the window.
Take out the bullets.
27 Oct 2009, 01:21 am
My right eye stuffed because when I was a lightie my cousin n I were playing Robin Hood with a bow n arrow and he shot me in the eye when I went to get an arrow out the target. Cornea damage, had to shoot left, but play tennis and squash etc. right. Didn’t need to shoot anything or anyone in the army except a mal soutie Natalian took a shot at me from his R1 on patrol when he refused to follow orders about making camp in an elephant herding area.
27 Oct 2009, 01:22 am
#543 skopskiet:
That explains the hatred for the Sharks!
27 Oct 2009, 01:23 am
#543 skopskiet:
The worst I had was a dart stuck in my skull.
But a mate of mine was shot with a pellet gun (windbuks) right on his wedding tackle at close range by his younger brother.
The younger brother was faster, but the older brother was fitter.
27 Oct 2009, 01:25 am
#544 WP Till I Die:
LMAO, it certainly does.
very funny stuff, better be off, a whole night of kakpraat.
27 Oct 2009, 01:28 am
#546 cab:
Good night – I need to return to my studies. Bon nuit, cab.
27 Oct 2009, 01:31 am
just like old times we cracked 500 plus posts with just 4 kak praters doing the honours
Nag ou Gert
27 Oct 2009, 04:08 am
Could be that the majority of white and coloured players in South Africa just have better natural born skills, ability and strength.
For instance a white lad cannot run with a television set, DVD player and laptop while effortlessly jumping over garden fences. It just doesn’t come naturally.
We all have to find our niche and hone those skills.
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