Transformation is top of the agenda for the next Springbok rugby coach and anyone not prepared to make it happen shouldn’t bother to apply.
That was the clear message yesterday from South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins, who told a packed media briefing at Saru House in Plattekloof they were “going to have to be much, much harder than we have ever been” on the issue.
“We have signed an agreement with the sports governing body and the ministry and we believe in it. As a sport we have to go forward with that in mind and I say, with all due respect, if anyone would like to be the coach of South Africa in 2016, he or she needs to understand it’s going to involve transformation,” Hoskins declared.
Outgoing Bok coach Heyneke Meyer decided not to make himself available for a second term, sparking wide speculation about who would take over the job.
Hoskins said yesterday: “Where I’m sitting, in the next four years in the build up to the next World Cup, transformation is going to be very important for this organisation, and that is something that we are discussing all of the time.”
Meyer drew flak for his poor transformation record at the helm of the Springboks and Hoskins hinted this, along with the Boks’ performance at this year’s World Cup, were among the reasons why both parties decided it would be a “a win-win situation” if Meyer did not continue as national coach.
“From a Saru perspective, we were pretty emphatic about transformation and he (Meyer) understands that,” Hoskins said. “The upper leadership met with Heyneke a few weeks ago, and had a very fruitful discussion. It was a good two-way conversation. We discussed a number of issues, one of them being our transformation imperatives. We had an open and frank discussion on that issue.”
While he did not want to speak on behalf of Meyer, he said the outgoing coach “knows what the transformation imperatives are for Saru”.
But Hoskins was reminded that Saru spoke about similar objectives four years ago when Meyer was appointed. Those objectives were largely “ignored” by Meyer over the course of his tenure and the Boks went into a Rugby Championship match against Argentina earlier this year with only two black players – Bryan Habana on the wing and a Zimbabwean-born prop, Tendai Mtawarira.
Organisations like Cosatu have called for the heads of Hoskins and other high-ranking Saru officials over the issue. And, after Bok sponsors Absa and BMW South Africa decided not to renew their deals with Saru, reportedly because of the slow pace of transformation.
Cosatu also called on corporates to boycott the sports body if they did not get their house in order.
Hoskins, though, was adamant his organisation was healthy. “You must ask Cosatu that (why they want me to leave),” he said. “Yes (Saru is in a good space at the moment). We are doing the best we can as an administration. We have ensured that we have good audits.
“From a governance perspective, we have set the bar very high in terms of having a clean administration.”
However, Hoskins admitted the unions, especially the unions involved in Super Rugby, would have to play a bigger role to bring through black players who can play international rugby.
“We are at crisis point in terms of getting players through,” he said. “That glass ceiling has become almost concrete and we need to break it. And the way we are going to break it is through the provinces and especially (Super Rugby) franchise provinces.
“They need to play their part and... assist us. Cosatu is going to ask for me to be fired, but it’s going to be me who walks the plank and right behind me is going to be the presidents of the big unions, because unless they assist us in transformation, it makes the task impossible.”
Allister Coetzee remains the favourite to take over as Springbok coach, but Hoskins refuted reports the former Stormers and Western Province coach had already signed up for the job.
The Saru president said they were not just looking locally as far as a new coach is concerned, as they aimed to employ the best candidate for one of the toughest jobs in South African sport.
“I don’t think we must rule out any possibility. We want the best for South Africa and we want to be in line with global practice,” Hoskins said.
“If you look at the World Cup, of the 20 teams there, 13 teams had foreign coaches. So it would be silly of us to rule out a foreign coach. The CEO (Jurie Roux) will now explain to the general council meeting on Friday what the procedure will be.” - Weekend Argus