Cape Town – Coach Heyneke Meyer’s latest Springbok team selection has again raised eyebrows as he will field one less player of colour when the South Africa takes on Argentina in Durban on Saturday.
Even though transformation objectives should not be the responsibility of the national coach – who may argue that there is a lack of black players coming through the ranks – Meyer’s decision to give Jesse Kriel a run at wing ahead of specialist wing Cornal Hendricks and Lwazi Mvovo has further alienated the team from many Bok supporters around the country.
The decision to shift Kriel (who was originally included in the squad as a second choice fullback) came as a result of the return of captain Jean de Villiers who will play on Saturday after a long injury lay-off.
Kriel played at outside superbly in both his Tests against the Wallabies and All Blacks and scored a try in each of those tough encounters.
While his subliminal form is the reason why the coach found it impossible to rest him, the lack of representation in the team has not gone by unnoticed.
Former Blue Bulls wing John Mametsa expressed his concern in an interview with The New Age newspaper.
“What is happening is depressing and unfair to those players,” Mametsa told the publication. “It shows a lack of confidence on the players by the coaching staff. If they want to look at the statistics, then black players will play. But this team is still stuck in the past.
“How long does it take on to keep knocking at the door? Why does it take white players a bad year to be dropped, but one bad match for a black player to be dropped? Black players who do well don’t get opportunities. I don’t think Meyer is 100% honest regarding his reasons,” the Bulls legend concluded.
Mametsa’s views were shared by many fans who vented their frustration on social media.
“Hayi it’s over gents. He kicked us out of wing? WING?,” Cape Town rugby enthusiast Avukile Mabombo said.
“Wing was what we knew blacks could always fall back on and he took that away from us? WING,”
“Hendricks? Mvovo? Senatla? Kriel is a great player but we have specialist wings with experience, who’ve earned their place on merit, but Meyer will start Lood de Jager on the wing before giving a young black player the benefit of the doubt.”
Apart from the representation issue, Meyer has also been criticised for retaining Handre Pollard at flyhalf after the 21-year-old took a hard knock to the head against the All Blacks a fortnight ago.
Pollard was a late inclusion in this week’s team as he was still recovering from the side-effects of his head-injury just days before the team selection.
He has since passed a concussion test although the situation should be a huge concern when factoring in that the team’s last match took place a fortnight ago.
If Meyer’s decision to give Pollard a run backfires he will join Johan Goosen as the second talented fly-half in Meyer’s term who was rushed back into action at the wrong time.
Meyer had selected Goosen to take on the Wallabies at Loftus Versveld, in 2012, knowing that the player was carrying a heel injury.
Goosen struggled in that contest and although he was substituted in that same match because of the injury, he was gain selected to start against the All Blacks at Soccer City the following week.
It was initially thought that the more experience Patrick Lambie would get a chance to wear the number 10 jersey this, but Meyer said: “Pat hasn’t played a lot but I just felt… you still have to go and win the Test match.”
The other option would have been to pick Morne Steyn, but the player who currently holds most Springbok records because of his superior goal-kicking ability is unlikely to feature in the team anytime soon.
Steyn indicated that he would also not be available for the team’s final preparation match in Argentina as his wife is likely to go into labour at that time.
As for the form flyhalf during this year’s Super Rugby, Elton Jantjies, it is also unlikely that he will be seen directing play for South Africa any time soon. - ANA