Johannesburg (AFP)
South African Rugby Federation president Mark Alexander on Monday accused some of the seven teams involved in the national version of Super Rugby of starting too many white players.
In a letter to the teams, which AFP was able to consult, he pointed out that the Pumas of Mbombela, a city in the northeast, only started two black players in the game against the Stormers last month.
Alexander also explains that he cannot justify to the Minister of Sports, Nathi Mthethwa, why all the coaches are white in Super Rugby Unlocked, a championship between South African teams set up to replace Super rugby which brings together the best franchises in the Southern Hemisphere.
"The victory at the World Cup does not grant a privilege to those resistant to change (for more racial diversity). It is even the opposite", he hammered, seeing it as proof that the "excuse" that black players performed less well than white was not valid.
Six of the fifteen Springboks who started in the final of the last World Cup were black.
“Just because we are living in unprecedented times does not mean that our goals for change should be restricted,” Alexander warns.
Under apartheid, racial segregation was also the rule in rugby.
The national team played only white players for 90 years, until Errol Tobias was selected for a game against Ireland in 1981.
The birth of a multiracial state in 1994 did not change the face of South African rugby.
In 1995, winger Chester Williams was the only holder in the world champion team and in 2007, only two black players participated in the 2nd world crown of the Springboks: two other wingers, Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen.
It was not until the appointment of Rassie Erasmus as head of the national team in 2018 that blacks were better represented in the Springboks.
One of his first decisions was to appoint as captain Siya Kolisi, third black line.
Erasmus and Kolisi put an end to two years of humiliating defeats, ending up winning the World Cup last year, beating England 32-12 last year.
© 2020 AFP