The starting line-up for the Springbok team to face Wales on Saturday has been named by coach Peter De Villiers. There were a couple of surprises which may shock many but it is clear that coach De Villiers is ready to do things his way and not carry on from the team that Jake White led to winning the Word Cup last year. What many have highlighted when seeing the starting 15 for the game on Saturday is that, the team includes seven players of colour which apparently is a new record.
The starting line-up is as follows: 15. Conrad Jantjes, 14. Tonderai Chavhanga, 13. Adrian Jacobs, 12. Jean De Villiers, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Butch James, 9. Bolla Conradie, 8. Pierre Spies, 7. Juan Smith, 6. Luke Watson, 5. Andries Bekker, 4. Bakkies Botha, 3. Brian Mujati, 2. John Smit (captain), 1. Gurthro Steenkamp.
Reserves: 16. Bismarck du Plessis, 17. CJ van der Linde, 18. Victor Matfield, 19. Danie Rossouw, 20. Ruan Pienaar, 21. Peter Grant, 22. Percy Montgomery.
The exclusion of Francois Steyn from the team has shocked me. After his great displays in the World Cup, one would have thought that the young man would be part of de Villiers ‘new’ team. I can only think that de Villiers has a good enough reason for leaving Steyn out of the team. It would be a shame if he does not think Steyn has a future in the Springboks.
I was reading an article earlier which was talking about the transformation in South Africa rugby. There seems to be no getting away from it. Any discussion about South Africa rugby always has to bring up the words; transformation or quota. The article was touching on the 3 Zimbabwean born players who are now part of the Springbok setup. Two of them are in the starting line-up for Saturdays game: Tonderai Chavhanga and Brian Mujati. Mujati will be making his debut for the Springboks. Whilst the third Zimbabwean, Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, was not part of the named 22 man squad for the match. What the writer went on to say was – is it actually fair to include Zimbabweans as part of a transformation drive? I found that to be an interesting question.
Some would argue that it is not right whilst some would have no problem with it. I for one have no problem with it as they are three very good players. The question then is do you include them as part of the quota meant to be in the South Africa rugby team? If you look at the business world, a black Zimbabwean working for a South African firm is not included in the BEE scorecard. A black Zimbabwean in South Africa can not take part in BEE deals. Now should the same be applied on the rugby field? Should Chavhanga and Mujati not be included as part of the transformation numbers? I think this is a debate that will go on for a while to come. But let us put all that aside and support the Boks on Saturday as one country regardless of what colour we are or where we were born.
InTheNews.co.za would like to wish coach Peter De Villiers and his team the best of luck against Wales.
