Cape Town (S/Africa) – Just weeks before the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, the Springboks have become embroiled in another race row.
This was after five black players reportedly approached the Cosatu Trade Union to voice concerns over the lack of transformation in the side.
Following the team’s first ever defeat to Argentina on Saturday, it left the two-time World Cup winners at the bottom of the Rugby Championship standings.
Former coach Peter de Villiers – the only former non-white manager of the national squad – waded into the debate by saying “not enough black players are being given an opportunity to prove their worth’’.
He accused current coach Heyneke Meyer of underestimating the intelligence of black people “with a dishonest selection’’in the lead-up to the Durban match (against Argentina), when Meyer had to choose between Jessie Kriel and the fit-again Jean de Villiers.
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The coach duly dropped a player of colour on the wing to accommodate the former.
“That decision took the country back to the late eighties, when blacks supported the opposing teams because of apartheid,’’ De Villiers said in a published newspaper interview.
Responding to the criticism, Meyer said: “I don’t look at colour – I look at the best players.’’
Addressing a media briefing on Wednesday, Meyer said: “When I took the job I said it’s not about me, this job is bigger than the individual. The most important thing for me is to keep my integrity.’’
(PANA/NAN)