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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26 Oct 2009, 22:37 pm
call me Little Ray. Big Ray died the other day after his last rendition of By The Time I get to Phoenix.
Ja SL whats up with your boertjie brethren, is it simply vasbyt pride that keeps them tied to the ossewa riempies where they ploeg maar voort in die nuwe vasberaade lande van melk en heuning en sommer maar net wil nie weet van die plek waar hul enigsins kennis eers gestig was? If you can lower yourself this low surely soms daai heiliges kan die selle doen?
26 Oct 2009, 22:38 pm
the gale force winds have hit Port Elizabeth with a vengeance, my neighbour has just had a piece of wood fly through his window! This is terrible, shattering of glass everywhere…yho
26 Oct 2009, 22:39 pm
#385 sharks_lover:
Not rumours at all. The Sharks management have stated that Alberts and Ludick were eager to move to Durban, but that they were waiting for the results of Jaques case before making an offer, as they had the same contracts. It’ll be a major loss for the Lions. This after the Sharks president boasted about the depth of their talent and development program, whilst criticising the Stormers for buying players instead of developing them.
26 Oct 2009, 22:39 pm
#376 sharks_lover: imo if we get alberts hell play 8 and kanko will go to 6 …not to fetch just to be the first flanker at the breakdown becoz of his speed 6.kanko 7 deysel 8 alberts
26 Oct 2009, 22:41 pm
#392 grant10: Good reply!! See you…
26 Oct 2009, 22:44 pm
#402 David: welcome to the age of professional rugby -we should pull a quick 1 over wp and get de jong -team 1.beast 2.bismark 3.smit 4.sykes 5.alberts/muller 6 botes/kanko 7 deysel 8.kanko/alberts 9 pienaar 10 hernandez 11.mvovs 12 de jongh 12 murray 14 jpp 15 terblancehe
26 Oct 2009, 22:54 pm
#400 skopskiet: Ek is hopeloos at taal but I see your land of milk and honey reference…..Sharky and I like to mingle, why do you want us to take sides?
26 Oct 2009, 22:57 pm
#242 grant10:
Yep, you said it, you were also the only other bloger here who pointed out at the Beast as the weakest link in the Sharks’ tight five!
26 Oct 2009, 22:57 pm
is hernandez staying on for S14? surely not. will cost a fortune.
1. beast (carstens) 2. Bismarck 3. smit (jan dup) 4. sykes 5. Mostert (muller) 6. Deysel (Botes) 7. Wim 8. Kanko 9. kockett 10. pienaar 11. mvovu (murray) 12. hernandez (swanepoel) 13. jacobs 14. jp 15. terreblacnhe
26 Oct 2009, 22:57 pm
howzit Sharks lover!
sorry all. i left a bit quickly as the love of my life walked in after spending her day flying around thunderstorms.
i am off to kip.
have a great evening.
26 Oct 2009, 22:58 pm
#360 Transformation:
I just wish that the Pebco 3 were given the same publicity and recognition as the ANC cadres.
26 Oct 2009, 22:59 pm
#408 cab:
Yup, he’s signed for the S14.
26 Oct 2009, 22:59 pm
#405 80srovers: quick question.
does the name Bert Tuhi ring any bells?
26 Oct 2009, 22:59 pm
if you understood the gist of my post Carol Ok you’d realize I’m encouraging some vasberaade die hards to mingle a little more than they do, like step out of the shadows of the vierkleur vlag flapping in the breeze over the orderly ossewa kring. Just now n again else they might just never recognize the land they call home when they eventually do.
26 Oct 2009, 23:01 pm
#409 rangerman: I thought I had offended you!!
See you ‘Middleman’!!
26 Oct 2009, 23:02 pm
#410 David: by whom supa dave?
26 Oct 2009, 23:02 pm
#411 David:
holy ****, they must have a treasure chest of note.
26 Oct 2009, 23:03 pm
#414 carol: cheers Carol.
80srovers i will check your reply tomorrow.
tjorts julle.
26 Oct 2009, 23:04 pm
#413 skopskiet: What is vasberaade and a vierkleur vlag?
You are loosing me again….ossewa kring too….
26 Oct 2009, 23:05 pm
#418 carol:
basically the BNP.
26 Oct 2009, 23:07 pm
#415 Transformation:
The Sharks. I was referring to Hernandez.
26 Oct 2009, 23:08 pm
#391 sharks_lover:
Carstens’ few miles ahead of the Beast, on merit selection basis the Beast won’t be on the bench even!
Cilliers, Carstens and Jannie Dup cover all prop positions with Smit and Bissi for the hooker.
I am surprised that after the best’s performance against the Cheetahs and the Golden Lions lately he is still mentioned, Has no one replayed the tapes?
26 Oct 2009, 23:08 pm
if steyn had stayed with the sharks and they get alberts, they could’ve win the damn thing next year. i mean hernandez is class.
26 Oct 2009, 23:09 pm
#418 carol:
Vasberaade: determined
Vierkleur: Four Colour flag, the old Transvaal Republic flag of the man that brought down a British Prime Minister ande bankrupted Britain by forcing them to keep an army of 450,000 souls in the field against 20,000 farmer who could shoot straight
26 Oct 2009, 23:09 pm
#419 cab: Good grief, they are a bunch of loonies!!
26 Oct 2009, 23:10 pm
#423 4man: for “man” read “men”
26 Oct 2009, 23:10 pm
#420 David: old man dave look @ the post i replied to…i was asking who should’ve given the pebco 3 more publicity?
26 Oct 2009, 23:11 pm
#419 cab: Disagree….not quite…the BNP are something else entirely.
26 Oct 2009, 23:11 pm
lol, it was quite amusing to see hernandez get involved in some fisticuffs, its totally out of character, but he obviously felt that is what was needed in SA, the only thing is could someone tell him not to pick on WP Nel, it would be nice to see him see the season out…
26 Oct 2009, 23:11 pm
Wtf the Sharks want with a mercenary Argie Fh when they supposed to be grooming Pienaar as back up Bok Fh as per Pdv’s request. If it were Oz or Nz then the S14 franchise coaches would be operating under national optimum interest with the country’s player resources, but not here.
26 Oct 2009, 23:12 pm
#423 4man: Hello 4man..
Are you related to one of those ‘straight shootin farmers’ per chance?
So Boks on a Tuesday in November….why do you need Wednesday off? Have I missed something?
26 Oct 2009, 23:12 pm
#427 4man:
yeah, just stirring, but how else can you describe the ossewa rendition and keep everything like-minded and kie.
26 Oct 2009, 23:13 pm
#429 skopskiet:
yeah thats also true, but hernandes can be used at 12 or 15 or anywhere actually.
26 Oct 2009, 23:15 pm
#430 carol: Ha ha I had a great grandfather on each side at the relief of the siege of Kimberley (my Moms ancestors)and my Natal ancestors hated both sides, as the Brits took their horses for remounts and the Boers took their sheep to eat….and they never got paid.
I start so early that I cant go to a game of rugby in the week, it would destroy me entirely for the rest of the week.
26 Oct 2009, 23:16 pm
#427 4man: Just missed the madness outside the BBC the other day, saw the police vans and helicopters and thought it was to do with the postmans strike at first!
26 Oct 2009, 23:18 pm
#421 Hondo: ha ha ha ha you’re hilarious buddy…carstens?
26 Oct 2009, 23:18 pm
long time Mnr Viermannertjie, about time too, never to late to build brugge that never really got torn down.
26 Oct 2009, 23:18 pm
#431 cab: Well, if one looks at it realistically, the Britis used the excuse of “taxation without representation” to interfere on behalf of their expats in the Goldfields to manipulate the situation to get their hands on the Gold and Diamonds.
The Ossewa kring, well the nBoers used to form a laager and batten down the hatchers when in trouble….much like the Israelis do today, but the Ossewa Brandwag which was a radical right wing element of the bitter ender Boers and their antecedents formed around WW2 to oppose Jannie Smuts and his SAP (South Africa Party) in joining the Allies to fight the Germans. The BNP preaqch a fascism akin to what the Germans and Italians did circa WW2.
stirrer
26 Oct 2009, 23:20 pm
#433 4man: Your family were really in the thick of it then!
What are you doing up at this time if you get up early?
26 Oct 2009, 23:20 pm
#426 Transformation:
The media, I suppose. The ANC have tried their best to downplay or ignore the BC activists like Goniwe and Biko.
26 Oct 2009, 23:20 pm
#434 carol: Well its a bit daft…Britian advocates everyone having their say….the BNP dont have any chance of ever being a majority, people should just let things run their course instead of raising sympathy folr these guys.
26 Oct 2009, 23:22 pm
#438 carol: Talking to you of course!!!! seeing I send you long e-mails and you dont reply.
Actually I just popped into the site to see if I can get Mark Keohanes e-mail addie as it is on my other computer, he has stopped sending me my keo newsletter. Then I saw you….and couldnt resist.
26 Oct 2009, 23:23 pm
#437 4man:
yeah but look the NP and the BNP are virtually identical, they are nationalists, its patriotism gone bad which does basically leave fascists with no toleration of difference.
26 Oct 2009, 23:23 pm
#440 4man: The viewing figures were huge though!
26 Oct 2009, 23:24 pm
#423 4man:
The Mauser 98 had about 500 yard advantage over the old Lee Enfield used in 1901-1903
Making adjustment for wind correction on the highveld was a second nature for the Boers while most of the British conscripts had no clue, shooting at a moving target ditto.
No coincidence that name such as Gerald Bosch, Naas Botha, De wet Ras, Jannie De Beer and now Morne and Fran Styen are the longest shooters in Test rugby, it called heritage!
26 Oct 2009, 23:24 pm
#434 carol:
I was reading Labours reaction, that the Beeb shouldn’t have given them airtime, as it promoted their cause. The same argument could have applied during the sixties when the Labour party and the TUC were hand in glove with the Communist party.
26 Oct 2009, 23:26 pm
#441 4man:
Sorry….great mail about your travels….thought I should wait until something ‘interesting’ happened here!!
How could I compete with a hooker and a trucker story!!
26 Oct 2009, 23:26 pm
fascism is fascism whichever brand or banner it happens to fall under, some prefer to call it nationalism, fine line between nationalism and fascism as soon as ethnicity or skin colour is brought into the reckoning. Pretty fine line of nationalistic hypocricy indeed. Borders around fear and inbred paranoia mainly, not too much else.
26 Oct 2009, 23:27 pm
#444 Hondo: You know I learnt alot about shooting in Africa from reading….Wilbur Smith!!
That man really likes his guns!!
26 Oct 2009, 23:27 pm
#442 cab: I dont hold a candle for the Nats, but read the BNP manifesto….these ous are bad news…..the Nats got a lot of bad press and propaganda about them, which has skewed peoples thinking, particularly abroad, about Saffas….Verwoerd, however, was poison.
If one looks at it logically people are going back to their roots with Wales, Scotland etc wanting to return to their own “homeland”, which means England will stop footing the bill, then they’ll soon change their mind when all the Scot politicians are out of Whitehall.
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