Bok bumbling bonanza
19 Jul 2006
The Springbok management have released a statement refuting claims that Solly Tyibilika is a quota player.
Jake White has gone on the defensive, denying he intended to insult Tyibilika when defending Luke Watson’s continued omission. White, as was reported by every news agency and publication in attendance at the press conference, said he had to be sensitive to the transformation issue when discussing Tyibilika’s inclusion.
Now the Bok management want to forget that was ever mentioned. The quote caused huge unhappiness within the squad and Tyibilika is known to have confronted the management about the quote.
With the bumbling Boks you would have expected nothing less than a stuff up in trying to address the issue. In a poorly put together statement the convener of selectors Peter Jooste is used as the buffer between White and the media, with Jooste saying White was misrepresented. In the SARU statement no mention is made of White ever mentioning transformation.
So we must assume that every single news agency got it wrong and reported it inaccurately. Keo.co.za did a web search and every agency carried exactly the same quote. Someone’s telling a pork pie and we know who it is!
Tyibilika’s stats were purred over in the statement. Five tests and no defeats. In those 3 tries. Jooste said Tyibilika had been a member of the squad for the last two years and was rewarded for this with his inclusion in the side on Saturday. He said the media should be questioning the Sharks, who refuse to select Tyibilika in their senior side and could not find a place for him in the Vodacom Cup Wildebeest team.
What Jooste does not mention is the Sharks have been questioned and they have been frank. They don’t think he is good enough to make their team. They feel they have better players and it certainly is not a race thing when you see just how many black and coloured players have represented the Sharks since Dick Muir took over.
The statement, ill-timed, only adds to the issue. White should never have used the word transformation in trying to deflect attention off probable selections. Let’s be honest, how the hell can a coach defend having picked a 32 year-old Andre Snyman and Gaffie du Toit as his two wingers if he had transformation issues?
And to say Watson was overlooked because of the need for transformation is an insult to anyone who has followed the Watson saga over the last two years. White has picked a number of white flankers, with Wikus van Heerden and Pierre Spies the latest to have made it, despite the supposed need for transformation.
It is just another of those contradictions. What White should be trying to explain is the following. At that same press conference he said Watson had not played in his structure and had never worked with the team in the last two years. He could not bring him in, he argued. Well Butch James’s exposure to the team has been one week in Bloemfontein in May this year. In the last two years that’s how much time James has spent getting to know the Bok systems. But that seems to be okay for White.
It’s a case of if you need an excuse you will find one. If you need a justification you will find one.
I said it yesterday, everytime these guys open their mouths at the moment they embarrass themselves.
This latest press statement only adds to the farce. Tyibilika is there because of transformation, but the application of this transformation is once again skewed. If White had identified correctly, then black players would be in the team on merit and no white player would suffer. The best black player would be there because he is better than the best white player in that position and vice versa.
But please Mr Jooste and Mr White don’t try and tell the South African public that at the moment Solly Tyibilika is the best openside flanker in South Africa. He has not played for two months. And he has never been the best opensider in the country when he played.
Don’t continue to insult the SA rugby public. You’d think the lack of effort in the 49-0 drubbing in Brisbane was insult enough.
123 Comments
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19 Jul 2006, 12:48 pm
Katman,
Agree with you re Jaco and Danie (although I don’t think anyone has seen Danie play this season). They should not be there, although with Jaco did Jake really have a choice. Who else was there.
Let’s also through in Snyman and Eddie. Following your reasoning Eddie should be replaced by Visagie who is clearly a better player.
As to your comment re Muir. It was not Britz who kept him out of the side. He could not even make the Wildebeest side. That means that there are at least three flanks that Muir rates better than him.
So do you still say Solly is there because of his abilities?
19 Jul 2006, 12:48 pm
Ollie – heheh some one had to say it !
PA – i see your point and i agree with you to an extent . But i am suspect that IOL, ourselves, News 24, 365 and a few others all ran the story can’t be entriely wrong.
If SARU were so sure where is transcript of the tape or better yet a pod cast of the presser…..
Sorry but i think they back tracking becasue they put their foot in it.
19 Jul 2006, 12:49 pm
after thinking he is gary owen himself against Aus last saturday!……heheh PA – classic.
Still now word from Superbru.
19 Jul 2006, 12:59 pm
damn – ah well – hope it gets sorted before friday.
yeah i actually cant believe i am defending saru.
19 Jul 2006, 13:00 pm
Genl Joubert,
If you agree with me about Jaco and Danie (but don’t call them quotas) why can’t you just accept Solly as one of White’s eccentric selections?
I see you mention Snyman and Eddie too. You’ve probably never called Snyman a quota, but I’ll be willing to bet you’ve used Ediie and quota in the same sentence.
Fact: Years and years of prejudice cause most white supporters to find other reasons for white players’ shortcomings while blaming black players’ shortcomings on their race.
19 Jul 2006, 13:14 pm
i am firmly in Pissant and Ollie’s camp, the whole truth needs to be conveyed. also, lets be aware of the sensitivities of the whole issue, everyone knows what they are. if ppl are unhappy with quotas, or the truth (or lack of it), this is SARU policy, not Jake, as their employee he is bound by these policies.
19 Jul 2006, 13:17 pm
Katman,
Not true. I have massive issues with Jake’s selection policies, not only Solly. All the players I mentioned should not be there. I don’t have any problem with coloured players plain as long as they are the best in their position.
Same with white players. I think for eg. that Snyman being picked over the Nduganes were criminal.
Like you said, Tim Dlulane is playing great rugby at the moment. He should be there in the squad.
My problem with this whole issue is that Solly seemed to believe that he was picked because he was the best in his position, which he clearly isn’t. I can think of at least four loosies in SA who are better than he is, Tim being one of them.
I have to say that I hope Solly proves me wrong on Saturday, but somehow I get a feeling he is going to be subbed by the 60 min.
19 Jul 2006, 13:30 pm
Pretty entertaining watching a cheetah trying to change his spots …
19 Jul 2006, 13:39 pm
What an absolute fiasco. As I observe from the wings in Aus, I can only shake my head in disbelief.
Eddie, who had foot in mouth disease, was a public relations disaster for us, but he pales into insignificance next to Jake!
Contrast what has come out of the Springbok camp to that of the AB camp-chalk & cheese.
19 Jul 2006, 13:42 pm
To hell with the “sensitivities” if that is coe-speak to mean just being politely and sensitively silent or even nodding in consent when you KNOW bare-faced lies are being told!
Speak the truth, and let all those over-sensitive folk who demand that you tell them the fairytales they demand to hear to go out and toughen up.
If “transformation” and “race quotas” are SARU “policy” owing to pressure from the regime, then don’t flinch from calling this interference exactly that. That’s what it is.
Call a quota player a “quota player” because that is exactly what he is, right up until the instant that merit and merit alone becomes SARU or ANC “policy” regarding selections. That moment of proper non-racialism is still a long way off.
19 Jul 2006, 13:46 pm
Well said TheTackler. If merit is not the only criteria, then no black player will ever really know if they are a quota player or not.
19 Jul 2006, 13:50 pm
What’s a pod cast of the presser?
(Is it hot in here?)
19 Jul 2006, 14:03 pm
well for a country with a history steeped in insensitivies and criticised as a pariah as such, you’d think most would expect or hope for some senstivities to be exhibited.
In an ideal world, AA and quotas would not exist, merit selection is the only truly fair way.
However, many societies, particularly SA come with their own historically ingrained institutions and belief systems. AA and quotas are a way to try and tackle these problems in the short term. Exactly the same laws, known as PA (POsitive Action), are being applied in modern Europe, with regards to woman and other previously disadvtaged ethnic groups.
What i do not agree with is the attempt by SARU to hide an unofficial quota policy.
However, you certainly cannot blame a coach for giving reasons (or white lies) designed to protect the player concerned so as not to destroy his confidence.
19 Jul 2006, 14:04 pm
is this so hard to comprehend?
You were a south african before you emmigrated from the swaart gevaar after all Tackler.
19 Jul 2006, 14:13 pm
I think he left when things were still pretty cushy for the baas and has no comprehension of the injustice of the situation.
19 Jul 2006, 14:26 pm
Whew.
:shy:
19 Jul 2006, 14:42 pm
which begs the question why he bothers to visit this site … one would think the sadfcuk would try and do something more kiwi-like at this time of day … like sleeping.
19 Jul 2006, 15:35 pm
“Injustice of the situation”?
You mean handing out racial advantages is an injustice? Of course it is. That’s precisely why it should stop forthwith.
That’s why Luke should be in the openside flank green shirt and Solly should be doing something more befitting his skill set.
19 Jul 2006, 15:45 pm
And if you want to move TOWARD an “ideal world” then you embrace and applaud the sort of practices and attitudes that you’d like to see in that “ideal world”, such as genuine non-racial team selections based purely on merit. And you turn your back on racial quota enforcement favouring one race over another. You don’t try to JUSTIFY a whoke new rund of race-based selections when that was the very thing that was wrong in the past!
19 Jul 2006, 17:17 pm
but if you are not living in an “ideal” world, rather one that has prejudices, some of which are historically ingrained, you unfortunately need to consider doing things to compensate and chose the lesser of two evils to achieve a fairer result. It is a tough one and not as cut and dried as you imply and you should know only too well that SA has never been a fair society.
19 Jul 2006, 20:02 pm
The reason new white flankers are picked such as van Heerden and Spies is that there are no good ball carrying black flankers around. Solly is a fetcher and so is Luke. I feel sorry for Jake because he probably is being forced to pick Solly and is just telling the truth. Now Parliament are up in arms because he’s telling the truth and not concealing parliament negative influence like they want him to.
19 Jul 2006, 23:56 pm
If you are not living in an ideal world — and non of us are — it does not mean you don’t do anything to improve it. You do what you can to move towards the ideal. And when you improve things, you don’t choose between Evil Number One and Evil Number Two.
You step away from BOTH evils and towards something GOOD.
In this context the GOOD you should adopt is the practice of selecting a national rugby team on nothing but rugby merit.
Virtually every other country on earth does that already and they know it is the only good thing to do.
20 Jul 2006, 04:39 am
It’s a disgrace that the outstanding legendary fetcher Jan Boland Coetzee only earned 6 test caps ever, while an untalented Natal B Wildebeest quota like Tyibilika has five tests to his name already.
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