Cape Town - Twelve out of the 23 players in the Springbok match-day squad will have to be players of colour at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
And eight of those will have to be in the starting line-up.
The likely incoming Bok coach Allister Coetzee, though, will have to contend with one of the biggest stumbling blocks that has hamstrung transformation in South African rugby - provinces failing to contract enough black players and give them sufficient opportunities to prove themselves at Super Rugby and Currie Cup level.
Part of the anger from the black rugby fraternity in the South African game stems from the stubborn refusal of former head coach Heyneke Meyer to give those few who have excelled at Super Rugby level - such as Lwazi Mvovo, Siya Kolisi and Rudy Paige - sufficient game time in Test rugby leading up to last year’s Rugby World Cup.
Others such as Elton Jantjies, Lionel Mapoe, Juan de Jongh, Cheslin Kolbe, Scarra Ntubeni, Oupa Mohoje and Nizaam Carr hardly got a look-in last year. But those are the big names who have been capped (except for Ntubeni and Kolbe).
But what about all those junior stars who come through Craven Week, make the SA Schools and Academy representative sides, move on to the SA Under-20 team, and then battle to get suitable game time at Super Rugby level?
That is where the bottleneck remains when it comes to bringing through more black players, and it is something that the South African Rugby Union intend tackling head-on after years of paying lip-service to it.
They allowed the provinces to get away with fielding just two or three players of colour in the starting line-up for far too long, which is why the Department of Sports and Recreation have to continuously hold them to account when it comes to transformation.
That is why SA Rugby have agreed, after consultation with government and the national Olympic committee (Sascoc), to have a Springbok team with 50 percent black representation at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
But they have a lot of work to do to drag the provinces kicking and screaming into the light. For example, for this weekend’s Super Rugby action - as well as the teams fielded by the Sharks and Stormers last weekend, as they are both on byes this week - there were just 38 players of colour in the match-23 of the six franchises.
That represents just 27.5 percent of the total of 138 players for the Bulls, Cheetahs, Lions, Sharks, Southern Kings and Stormers in the period under review. That number needs to go up to 69 out of the 138 if there is to be 50 percent black player representation.
The Bulls had six in their match-23, the Cheetahs six, Lions four, Kings seven, Sharks six and the Stormers nine.
SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins, speaking after the organisation’s annual general meeting in Cape Town on Friday - where the appointment of the new Bok coach was ratified - acknowledged that now was the time to take action if the 50 percent target was hoped to be achieved by 2019.
“We have a portfolio meeting in a short while at Parliament, and all the provinces have to come with. We will knuckle down and see where the weaknesses are. But in some of the areas, it’s been positive,” Hoskins said.
“I don’t want to brag about the positives… You are as strong as your weakest link, but if you look at the Stormers team (who had eight black players in their starting line-up last weekend), it’s a beacon of hope for transformation.
“And I think that it puts pressure on the other franchises because I can hear the other franchises, when their games are being played, they are feeling quite embarrassed about the fact that they don’t have black players on the pitch. Enough black players.”
That is part of the reason why SA Rugby want to involve a Black African coach in the Springbok management team - Kings backline mentor and former SA Sevens captain Mzwandile Stick is understood to be the man likely to partner Coetzee - so that more black players can be identified for Test rugby, along with black coaches.
Players of colour in last match-23
Bulls:4 starting, 2 on the bench
Cheetahs:5 starting, 1 on the bench
Lions:4 starting, 0 on the bench
Sharks:3 starting, 3 on the bench
Southern Kings:5 starting, 2 on the bench
Independent Media