African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has lashed out at the South African Rugby Union (Saru) for what he called allowing Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer to “become a law unto himself”.
Since the ignominious defeat to Argentina at Kings Park last Saturday‚ Meyer has come under heavy criticism on various fronts ranging from the demographic make-up of his match 23 to the three Test defeats in the Rugby Championship.
Things reached boiling point when trade union federation Cosatu revealed that five black Springbok players‚ supported by two white teammates‚ approached them alleging racial bias in national team selection.
Meyer has denied this claim while prop Trevor Nyakane‚ one of those named to start in Buenos Aires on Saturday‚ expressed doubts about the veracity of the unnamed “Cosatu Five”.
One of the ruling party leaders‚ Mantashe‚ not for the first time in Meyer’s tenure‚ delivered withering criticism of coach and the sports body‚ especially regarding the reported four-year contract extension awarded to Meyer.
“Saru is likely to give Meyer a contract extension because it is dominated by people who want to please him‚” Mantashe said.
“But Meyer has taken us backwards in terms of transformation. He is also not performing. We lost three Test matches in a row (this year)‚ we fell down three places [on the world rankings] to No 5 and we lost to Los Pumas for the first time.
“There is no other thing to measure a coach but the performances [of his or her team]. Saru must show seriousness that the coach is not a law unto himself.
“In fact‚ if one thing can be said about this World Cup‚ the talent is galore. Meyer is spoilt for choice but he doesn’t want to select the best players.
“Gio Aplon ended up on the sidelines and going overseas because he was never given a [consistent] run when he was one of the top players in his position. Nizaam Carr is nowhere and neither are Cheslin Kolbe and Juan de Jongh.
“I also didn’t understand why he fetched a fullback [Jesse Kriel] and overlooked all the specialist centres‚ including Francois Venter from the Cheetahs.”
Mantashe said it wasn’t Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula’s task to fix problems regarding transformation at the elite end of the sport.
Mbalula refused to comment on the Cosatu revelations on Tuesday but tweeted that “full transformation in rugby is not gonna happen bcos (sic) we going to WC (World Cup)”. The hashtag #BoksSoWhite was trending on Thursday on the social media platform.
“The minister of sport doesn’t run those disciplines — it would be a disaster if he did‚” Mantashe said.
“That applies to netball‚ cricket and every other sport. Saru must commit itself to transformation; not in word but in practice.”
Meyer on Wednesday named four black players — Nyakane‚ Bryan Habana‚ Lwazi Mvovo and Zane Kirchner — in the starting XV to face Argentina in a friendly this weekend.
It is the coach’s last chance to assess players before he names his final 31-man squad for next month’s showpiece in the United Kingdom.
Mantashe added that bringing captain Jean de Villiers back from a spate of injuries threatened the captain’s legacy.
“To stick with Jean de Villiers‚ who is one of the best-ever centres South Africa has produced‚ as the captain will destroy his track record.
“He is now over the hill and that is why he is injury-prone and looking more like a flank forward than a centre.”
Saru had not responded to requests for comment by the time of going to print.
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