Court hears case to bar S.Africa rugby team from World Cup

“It can not be that, 21 years down the line, transformation is at a snail’s pace in all sectors”, he said.

“It’s non-negotiable, we must support out national team”, he said. The Citizen reports that “the parties have until tomorrow afternoon to present a draft order to the court on the way forward regarding the ANA’s constitutional challenge to the manner in which players [are selected for the squad]”.

Coach Heyneke Meyer has included nine players from the Springboks’ winning squad of 2007 as he trumpets the need for calm heads in the pressure moments that are sure to come, particulalry in the closing stages of the tournament, when the margin between success and failure can be millimetres. “I’m saying to fellow South Africans, black, white, blue and green … we are going to England to conquer and must support our national team”.

This decision suggests Japan’s emphasis on the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, rather than the Rugby World Cup the year before, as the arena will only be ready in time for the summer games. I find it ambiguous that South Africa would want to compromise great talent for race.

The first thing to understand is that transformation is a non-negotiable cornerstone of everyday South African life, post-apartheid. “Now is the time to show the players that we have their backs and are with them every step of the way”, the Saru boss said.

South African plaintiffs have dropped a legal attempt to stop the Springboks from playing in the Rugby World Cup in a dispute over a lack of black players in the squad. Players such as flyhalf Elton Jantjies and centre Lionel Mapoe had proven themselves during the Super 15 rugby competition between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, but were still not being given enough opportunities, he said. Players of colour aren’t really given a chance to prove themselves, this could be because the coach is old-school from the 1995 team.

World Rugby is concerned about issues relating to stadia which will be used during the 2019 event, with the National Stadium recently taken off the table by the hosts due to the exorbitant cost of its construction. But that is not the case, it is just a mentality that we as people have since we are not being given a chance to prove that we do have talent and required skills to make it to the top.