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Let's talk about Springbok selection policies

By Online Editors

Merit based or race based? Andrew Mehrtens gave his two cents on The Short Ball this week, laying into the debate about South African Rugby’s selection policies in the wake of the Springboks’ 57-0 defeat to the All Blacks.

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“Their selection policies are not conducive to creating a merit based team and the prestige that goes along with knowing that you are your mates are the best in the country in their positions” the former All Black first five said.

“They’re not going to get the results until they change the top level of social engineering.” he went on to say.

It’s an interesting call, to say the least.

The topic of race-based selections have been a go-to excuse whenever South African rugby has found itself in the doldrums, but does it (excuse the pun) have any merit?

The number one example of the quota system actually working would have to be former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers, who is mostly remembered for his fantastic ability to say something strange and quote-worthy whenever a camera was around.

What a lot of people don’t remember though, was the fact that the Springboks enjoyed a period of parity with the All Blacks. De Villiers helmed them to five victories over their traditional rival, including a win in 2009 that was the last case of a visiting team winning a test match on NZ soil till the British & Irish Lions this year. 2009 also saw the Springboks defeat the Lions in a thrilling series.

While de Villiers enjoyed a good run for a while, however he was ultimately undone by a poor showing at the 2011 World Cup. His successor Heneyke Meyer only ever won one test against the All Blacks, but enjoyed a much less scrutinised role as Springbok head coach.

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The role that the quota systems play in South African sport are a little more complicated than just picking a whole bunch of one racial group.

Historically, South Africa’s pathways to top level sport were only open to white players. While the quota system seeks to change that from the top down, there needs to be buy in from the grassroots level – otherwise this mindset will never change and white players will continue to have the easier entry into playing sport.

Therefore the implementation of quotas at the highest level will simply cause more resentment and division.

The reality is there is no easy answer for the problems that South African rugby faces.

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Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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