Boks get cautious nod from Stofile

For all the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Sport’s sable-rattling before the announcement of South Africa’s World Cup team, the sports ministry’s reception of the squad was surprisingly sanguine last night.

Simnikiwe Xabanisa of the Sunday Times reports that Springbok coach Jake White’s squad of 30 — with only six players of colour, including one “Black African� in wing Akona Ndungane — did not bowl over Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile on the transformation front.

“I want to congratulate the boys who’ve been selected,� said the minister. “It’s always a great honour to be selected for your country, let alone the World Cup. But I’m disappointed it doesn’t represent South Africa as a new country.�

Stofile said the final squad, announced in Cape Town yesterday evening, was proof that rugby was stuck in the past. “That we can’t be happy with.�

But he quashed the popular theory doing the rounds that the Bok side could be changed before departure for France on September 3.

“No law can give us the power to do anything like that,� he said. “Besides, I don’t think it’s desirable to do that. The World Cup is less than two months away and we don’t want to demoralise the team.�

Stofile lay the blame for a team no better transformed than the one that went to the 2003 World Cup at the door of the South African Rugby Union.

“They should have intervened earlier and given the coach and his selectors material so that they could be coached to the required standard to make this year’s team,� he said.

At the team announcement, Saru president Oregan Hoskins also pronounced himself unhappy with the transformation of the squad. “Quite frankly, I think we’ve made very little progress.

“We agree the work has to be done, but from the bottom up and not the way we’ve been doing it. We need to change that and make the job easier for the coach and his selectors because it’s our fault, not theirs.�

The squad announcement was a South African rarity in that it was predictable without being controversial — unlike in 1995, when the World Cup-winning team was rocked by the omission of Western Province captain Tiaan Strauss; in 1999, when Nick Mallett’s side suffered by the selection of Bob Skinstad and the axing of captain Gary Teichmann; and, in 2003, when Rudolf Straeuli’s squad was notably without Quinton Davids and Geo Cronjé after their part in the Geogate scandal.

With the possible exception of the risk taken on injured flyhalf André Pretorius, the names read out last night were largely as expected. Pretorius, who is struggling to shake a hamstring strain, has been included despite having last played competitive rugby on May 5.

The injury is so serious that he is leaving for Germany on Sunday for specialist treatment until August 4.

“I know there’s a lot of criticism going around that I haven’t played in a long time,� Pretorius said yesterday. “It’s a valid criticism and the only way I can silence it is if I go out and play.�

The notable omission was Western Province captain Luke Watson, particularly as Hoskins had kicked up a stink by insisting he be included in the training group named by White in May.

As the intervention was intended to give Watson every chance of making the World Cup squad, the easy acceptance of a squad that omitted him makes one wonder what all the fuss was about.

In pure rugby terms, only three players are unlucky not to have been chosen. Bulls loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg suffered because the abundance of talented loose forwards in his province curtailed his game time.

Centre Waylon Murray may have felt he did more, on the Boks’ recent trip Down Under on Tri-Nations duty, than Wynand Olivier to enhance his claims.

Another who might feel hard-done- by is 1999 World Cup squad member Wayne Julies, who only got a match against Samoa to press his claim.

Among the fortunate are veteran prop Os du Randt, lock Albert van den Berg, and winger Ashwin Willemse. Du Randt, 34, who has a 1995 winner’s medal, will pack for Paris on the strength of his experience. Van den Berg has been picked for his all-round usefulness.

Willemse’s inclusion is a promise White has kept to the player. The 2003 SA Player of the Year has only recently returned to top rugby after four years of battling serious knee and ankle injuries.

While some may be tempted to be cynical, spare a thought for the man who at some stage must have thought he’d never play again.

“This was the ending I had in the back of my mind,� said a beaming Willemse yesterday.

But the biggest loss for the Boks may well be in the coaching department, where they look certain to miss the services of consultant Rassie Erasmus.

It was announced on Friday by the Stormers that Erasmus would coach their Super 14 team next year. He is to start on August 1.

Should he stay on as technical adviser with the Boks he will only realistically start his new job on October 24.

Saru and Western Province will deliberate on his availability on Tuesday.

The World Cup squad: In alphabetical order, with number of Tests played in brackets:

Bakkies Botha (35); BJ Botha (10); Gary Botha (9); Schalk Burger (31); Jean de Villiers (31); Fourie du Preez (30); Os du Randt (72); Jaque Fourie (29); Bryan Habana (27); Butch James (18); Ricky Januarie (18); Victor Matfield (58); Percy Montgomery (85); Johann Muller (16); Akona Ndungane (8); Wynand Olivier (17); Ruan Pienaar (12); JP Pietersen (6); André Pretorius (24); Danie Rossouw (24); Bob Skinstad (38); Pierre Spies (9); John Smit (captain, 67); Juan Smith (32); Gurthro Steenkamp (11); Francois Steyn (8); Albert van ven Berg (46); Wikus van Heerden (7); CJ van der Linde (39); Ashwin Willemse

Programme Before Boks leave for FRANCE
July 22-28: World Cup Camp (Cape Town)

July 29-August 8: World Cup Camp (Durban)

August 15: SA v Namibia (Cape Town)

August 21: SA v Connaught (Ireland)

August 26: SA v Scotland (Edinburgh)

September 3: Depart for Paris