Shades of grey
11 Aug 2010
There are enough quality young players of colour in South Africa to ensure quotas are no longer necessary at schools level, writes GRANT BALL in SA Rugby magazine.
The U18 Craven Week is meant to be the pinnacle of the South African schoolboy rugby season, but since its inception in 1964, its selection system has been flawed. In the early days, during apartheid, the best black schoolboys weren’t allowed to play, and in post-1994 South Africa, some of the best white players have missed out, in many cases because of the quota system.
For this year’s Craven Week held in Welkom, nine of the players in each 22-man squad had to be players of colour, with five on the field for the entire match on day one, four on day two, and five again on the Saturday.
However, the 50-50 racial quota for the SA Schools side was scrapped this year. Fourteen white players were named in the match 22 and the general consensus was that all eight players of colour had been selected on merit.
Saru’s high-performance manager Herman Masimla acknowledges that Craven Week is the envy of the rest of the rugby-playing world. But if the tournament doesn’t help to produce good results for age-group national teams, it’s not reaching its objective.
The SA U18 team’s 45-13 defeat to their English counterparts last year was a wake-up call, as was the SA U20 side’s third successive bronze medal at the Junior World Championship.
‘This is an elite programme, so we want the best,’ says Masimla. ‘This year there was a synergy between rewarding players who performed at Craven Week, and the requirements of producing a squad capable of winning at U20 level.’
But if SA Schools sides are to be selected on merit in future, shouldn’t the provincial teams do the same?
Western Province U18 coach Chris October, who fulfilled the same role with last year’s SA Schools outfit, believes quota selections have played a valuable role in a unique country like South Africa, but that there’s no longer a need for them.
‘At schools level, we’re able to pick on merit,’ he says. ‘You just have to look at the composition of the SA U20 side to see that we don’t require quotas anymore.’
October notes that certain players of colour are immediately labelled as quota selections, even in cases where they’re actually better than the white players in the same position. He says the only way this stereotyping will stop is if quotas are dropped.
‘Speaking as a previously disadvantaged person, if you talk to all black players, 99% of them will tell you they don’t want to be tagged as a quota player. They all want to be selected on merit alone.
‘We want a situation where we just regard the players as human beings and then select the side. If all 15 of the best players are black or all 15 are white in a particular year, then so be it. Those teams must just be selected.
‘It’s important that the work is done at grassroots level. If all South Africans are being given an equal opportunity, players will come through naturally and we can select teams on merit.’
Western Province, Eastern Province, Boland and Border regularly meet the transformation requirements at U18 level on merit, and at times exceed them. The problem is that inland unions, such as the Golden Lions, Blue Bulls and Free State, don’t have as many players of colour to select from.
This has led to many individuals from coastal areas being given bursaries to schools up north, but Lions U18 coach Gollie Gouws, who was October’s assistant with SA Schools last year, says it’s still tough finding enough quality players in those regions, and that the quota for each union should depend on the number of black players in their region.
‘At the Lions’ final trials, we only had 42 black players out of 112 schools to choose from. Twenty of those 42 have to be selected [nine for Craven Week and 11 for the 22-man Academy Week squad]. To put that into context, only one player of colour at our final trials had been playing rugby at one of our high schools for all five years. We had to bring the rest in from the Eastern Cape.’
Gouws says transformation is about picking a black player over a white one when they possess similar abilities, but in certain cases the players aren’t comparable.
‘The numbers are favoured heavily against white players coming through. It would be good to have a little bit of relief in terms of the numbers, because we don’t want to be unfair to white players, which is the case at the moment. We are losing white players to other unions and to rugby.’
Selecting the best squad of 22 always creates problems as it’s a subjective process, where coaches and selectors will favour certain individuals. However, in the past five years there have been some highly contentious omissions from Craven Week.
Four players who missed out on selection for their provinces are Bjorn Basson, Francois Hougaard, Mathew Turner and PW van Vuuren.
Springbok wing Basson’s ommission from Border’s Craven Week side was a case of talent not being identified as other black wingers were selected ahead of him.
Another current Bok, Francois Hougaard, missed out on Western Province Craven Week selection due to quotas, and he eventually moved to the Bulls.
Turner was the country’s leading try-scorer in schoolboy rugby in 2006 (28 in 17 matches) and he added another 146 points with the boot, but surprisingly he wasn’t deemed good enough to play for Western Province. Turner did play for WP U19 the following year, but when he wasn’t selected for the SA U20 or SA Sevens sides after being the Varsity Cup’s leading try-scorer in 2008, he turned his back on South Africa. He now plays for Bristol and the England Sevens side.
Van Vuuren’s case is an extraordinary one. Emphasising how difficult it is for provinces such as Free State to fill their Craven Week quota, the Grey College 1st XV hooker wasn’t selected in his Grade 11 year, with his place being taken by a schoolmate who was in the 5th XV.
Van Vuuren, though, was selected for Craven Week the following year and went on to play for SA Schools and SA U20. He says his mental strength prevented him from becoming disillusioned like other players in similar situations.
‘It was an awful time. It really sucked because I’d worked hard to make it into the Grey 1st XV. To then not make Free State’s Craven Week side – which is a weakened Grey side – because of quotas, was a setback.
For me, the main thing was to not get upset, lose confidence and think that I wasn’t good enough to play at that level. I chose to look at the positives. I’ve always said, if you’re good enough, you’ll make it – it may just take a bit longer.
‘Quotas are not a bad thing, as they are helping to make the game more representative, and the guy who took my place wasn’t a bad guy. I wasn’t mad at him, because it wasn’t his choice. It was just an irritating situation.
‘At senior level we see that the best players always come through. There aren’t quotas at senior provincial level because unions have to pay their players, and they can’t afford to contract sub-standard guys. The Boks also select the best players possible, with the exception of one or two surprises.’
SA Rugby magazine has an extremely reliable source who says a similar situation to Van Vuuren’s occurred with this year’s Western Province Craven Week side.
A black player from a local school had been identified as a talent for the future due to his size and skill, but he was dropped from his school’s 1st XV after a poor season and his place was ironically filled by another black player. Yet he was still selected for WP, even though he couldn’t play trials because he was out for five weeks due to injury.
However, October denies this. ‘I help select the side, and I seriously don’t know anything about that.’
Gouws says there are many cases where the black player is the best in his position, but in the few instances when the player clearly isn’t good enough, it does him more harm than good to be selected. He adds that some players of colour drop their standards at trials because they realise there are certain spots in a squad earmarked for quota players.
‘Sometimes quota players measure themselves against the other quota players in their position at trials,’ says Gouws. ‘Instead of measuring themselves against the 12 best wings, they compete against the three best black wings.
‘We have good young black players who are coming through on merit. Monde Hadebe, who played hooker for SA Schools in 2008, is the perfect example; he came through on his own ability. If the guys are good enough, that’s wonderful and they must be selected. The problem is when you’re forced to pick them.
‘In the past, the SA Schools selectors were obliged to look at black players in certain positions, such as hooker, scrumhalf and the utility backs. They picked guys so they wouldn’t get fingers pointed at them.
‘But last year we had to pick a 56kg scrumhalf from Dale [Bongi Kobese], because the Paul Roos captain [Rick Schroeder] was injured after Craven Week. That meant we had the eighth or ninth best scrumhalf playing against England U18. I looked at all his stats after the physical testing, and his muscle percentage and tone were poor. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good player, but in a match of that nature, he was found out.’
Considering all these factors, it’s no surprise that the SA Schools side was embarrassed 45-13 by their England counterparts.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen this story before. In 2005, diminutive Mandilakhe Tile from Dale was selected for SA Schools, and a year later he moved up to the Bulls. He hasn’t played for a single representative side since.
Tile is not alone and from the SA Schools side that lost 30-24 to SA Academy five years ago, similar stories exist for Charlton Prinsloo, Riacco Eilerd and Malungisa Nkosi, even though they’re only 23.
Dries van der Wal is considered an authority on schools rugby after coaching Grey Bloem for over 20 years from the mid-80s. He was involved with Free State Schools for 10 years and SA Schools for six until he stepped down in 2007, and as an educationalist he’s watched the game and country change.
Like October and Gouws, he’s emphatic that quotas have served their purpose, pointing to the large number of players coming through in various positions at top 20 schools such as Paul Roos, Paarl Gym, Glenwood, Selborne, Grey PE, and Maritzburg College.
‘South African schools are doing their utmost to transform the game,’ says Van der Wal. ‘The coastal regions don’t struggle with quota numbers, but the interior does because there are less people of colour who play rugby. There are positives and negatives to quotas, and some good rugby players have come through because of them. But we’ve reached a point where we can pick teams on merit. There are brilliant young players coming through – recent Craven Weeks have been filled with them.’
Van der Wal doesn’t believe coaches will start to ignore black players if quotas are done away with, because they will continue to select their best team.
‘I listen to the coaches and the way they speak, and there has been a mind shift,’ he says. ‘They give credit to all the players – no matter what colour. There are very few coaches who see race at our school. We know we must go for the best players because we have to produce results. We are very positive about developing players of colour.
‘We must also remember that the country has changed since 1994, and some of those coaches’ best friends are black. Of course you get exceptions – from both whites and blacks – but young people have forgotten about the past and they want to move on and forget about the black-white, quota thing.’
Van der Wal wants quotas at Craven Week to be phased out over the next few years.
‘Many of us coaches go out and develop players of colour because we know we need them and they add value. We can’t do away with quotas immediately, but they should be reduced from year to year. For example, next year they should drop it from nine to seven. There are more than enough black players for the SA Schools selectors.’
– This article first appeared in the August issue of SA Rugby magazine.
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337 Comments
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11 Aug 2010, 12:49 pm
@grant10(grant10)-49:
I’ve been away for the last few weeks.
However, the fact remains, you ARE a drama queen. Always ranting and raving about the next big disaster etc.
The fact that your rantings happen to coincide with the reign of a clownish coaching trio at the present time doesn’t make you Nostradamus.
As they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
11 Aug 2010, 12:51 pm
habana, guthro, juan de jongh, aplon, jp petersien, beast are all quotas. They’re all there on merit.
11 Aug 2010, 12:55 pm
@gecko(gecko)-31: That 1/16th is Maori DNA and it’s 100% Maori DNA, so Cully was in, like a rat up a drainpipe. But without that precious DNA he’d be nowhere near. Wouldn’t meet the quota requirements, you see?
A disgrace.
11 Aug 2010, 12:56 pm
Two pieces of news just out:
** PDV calls on Jacques Nienaber (Stormers defense coach) to join them at the Bok camp
** Sharks lose Mapoe bid – he will stay a Cheetah
11 Aug 2010, 12:57 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-34: you took the words right out of my mouth…
that is why you hear statements like “choose the best 15″ which most of them time means something other than exactly that…
11 Aug 2010, 12:58 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-54:
damn…
11 Aug 2010, 12:59 pm
Transformation. How do you know? As an example, if SA rugby had strubbornly stuck with January and Conradie at scrumhalf as they do with black wings in virtually every provincial team, would we ever have known about the talent of Du Preez?
Where have all the Carel du Plessis and Ray Mordt’s gone? Does the SA gene pool suddenly not produce white wings anymore?
11 Aug 2010, 13:00 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-51: ja….
nostradamus has a few more pearls for you Tacitus….
you can save them on your computer…
and then duck for a few weeks…
11 Aug 2010, 13:00 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-54: Both stories have been added to our Currie Cup and Tri-Nations threads.
11 Aug 2010, 13:01 pm
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-53: Except that it turned out not to be true.
How do you feel supporting the Maori? Seeing you have not 0.00000!% Maori DNA in you, and in fact, your DNA, like mine, like FW de Klerk, like Eugene Terreblance etc are closer to Ricki Januarie’s than Peri Weepu.
11 Aug 2010, 13:02 pm
@Simon(Simon)-59:
Cool Simon, when I checked it wasn’t just caught it on the 24 website.
11 Aug 2010, 13:03 pm
WTF is a ‘white ‘ wing….
A skinless KFC ckicken special?
Fark me….this is too much for me…
will come back when racist talk dissipates.
It is enough to make me puke on my farken keyboard.
11 Aug 2010, 13:07 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-52:
Imagine if Louis Strydom and Herkie Kruger had been a shade darker, would they have lasted ten years in the CC?
11 Aug 2010, 13:10 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-57: how do i know what?
As to your question on the gene pool producing white wings, ask the various coaches – at all levels. They’re the ones who tried to minimise the ‘disruption’ of their teams by players of colour by piling them on the wings.
11 Aug 2010, 13:10 pm
@grant10(grant10)-62: Skinless KFC? Surely that’s defeating the purpose?
Everyone know’s it’s the skin that makes a KFC piece of chicken. I’m not sure what would be so special about that special.
11 Aug 2010, 13:13 pm
Skinless KFC would be like decaf coffee and skimmed milk.
A total waste.
11 Aug 2010, 13:15 pm
@mxhosa(mxhosa)-63: think monty dumond, riaan swanepoel, jaco van der westhuyzen etc…
11 Aug 2010, 13:18 pm
Anyone else see that woman get aggro at KFC when they didn’t want to serve her KFC nuggets as it was still breakfast time?
Tried to punch the person at the drive thru window a few times. Ended up smashing the window and driving off.
11 Aug 2010, 13:30 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-67:
Speaking of “merit selections”, Francois Hougaard who was hond kak in last EOYT, has played two games at scrumhalf this year (against the Pumas and the Lions), is a must for next week’s game…
11 Aug 2010, 13:34 pm
@grant10(grant10)-46: We all agree that merit should be the only criteria, but to ignore the fact that race is a factor in selections is to ignore the elephant in the room. Trumpeting at the top of his voice…..
Even Hoskins admitted that it was a factor, only he rephrased it as the current political commitments to transformation. When the ofiicials stop using innuendo like that, then so will we. But we don’t pick the team or quotas, they do.
Hate the game, not the playa.
11 Aug 2010, 13:36 pm
@gecko(gecko)-60:
interesting factoid…
a sea sponge shares 70 percent dna with human beings…
so we’re not as evolved as we like to believe…
11 Aug 2010, 13:38 pm
Stormersboy
Fo Sho..
11 Aug 2010, 13:38 pm
@ufo(ufo)-71:
I would imagine a 1% DNA difference is the difference between you and an earthworm though.
Or you and a Bulls supporter!
11 Aug 2010, 13:40 pm
@ufo(ufo)-71: Hence soaking up the facts
11 Aug 2010, 13:40 pm
@gecko(gecko)-60: I totally disapprove of ANY race-based rugby team, and that includes NZ Maori. They are abundantly good enough to play for the ABs on merit alone — as many do. And that should be that.
(Cullen’s one great-granny was a part-Maori, so Cully does have a bit of Maori DNA, making him eligible.)
11 Aug 2010, 13:40 pm
@gecko(gecko)-74: kak pun i know
11 Aug 2010, 13:41 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-73:
eina…!!
11 Aug 2010, 13:42 pm
@gecko(gecko)-74:
that wasn’t so bad…
but what i’d like to know is when are we gonna fight for the inclusion of sea sponges in the bok team…??
11 Aug 2010, 13:44 pm
hmmm
11 Aug 2010, 13:45 pm
@grant10(grant10)-62: Hence, your love for LW!
11 Aug 2010, 13:47 pm
As long as these racist quota policies exist South African School Teams will be below par, which in turn will have a ripple effect on or senior rugby in due course, with talented youngsters leaving our apartheid quotas systems for equity and equality.
11 Aug 2010, 13:49 pm
seems we’ve got 15 quota human beings in the Bok team…
we’d get better results if human quotas were expunged (hehehe…) and we had 15 sea sponges on the field…
11 Aug 2010, 13:54 pm
*sigh*
11 Aug 2010, 14:07 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-2:
If you look at the transformation taking place currently in the lower ranks of rugby, and within the country as a whole, and you then consider the fact that black Africans make up circa 80% of the South African population whilst white folk make up circa 10%, that situation is not likely to happen.
11 Aug 2010, 14:09 pm
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-84:
I respectfully disagree.
11 Aug 2010, 14:12 pm
habana is definitely not a quota!!! but he is sure playing like one in 2010
11 Aug 2010, 14:14 pm
@foreverrugga(foreverrugga)-81: Once we are “happy with the teams performance” like bafana (note lower caps) after they couldn’t make the second round, transformation will be complete!
Then I’ll have to start watching Oz and English Rugby league! And that’ll be the end of me!
11 Aug 2010, 14:15 pm
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-84: exept that 80 don’t all play rugby, and certainly most of them that do, would not be good enough for the Springboks. But yes, if many did play, then we should get a fair amount of talent coming through….
How do you account for the fact that there are many “White” Springboks are the best in the world at theitr positions, even amoung the islanders, North African French, etc etc…?
11 Aug 2010, 14:15 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-85:
Are you going to enlighten me?
11 Aug 2010, 14:16 pm
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-84:
There is a moerse difference between demographic numbers vs. rugby playing numbers.
In other words, how much of that 80% of black people play or support rugby?
Better yet, what is the racial make-up of numbers from all the ethnic groups playing and supporting rugby.
Are blacks the majority?
Whites?
Coloureds?
Those are the numbers thats important imo.
11 Aug 2010, 14:17 pm
@geroom_sexwater(geroom_sexwater)-86: he most definitely is, when hoskins counts the number ie quota of players of colour that make up the current springbok team, he also counts habana! If behind the scenes pdv is instructed to maintain a certain number (read quota) of players of colour he starts counting with habana, guthro, jdj, beast etc and the politicians then get off his back.
11 Aug 2010, 14:23 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-90: A few weeks ago a blogger mentioned jokingly that we should get rid of locks and replace them with loose forwards (I say jokingly because he also mentioned getting rid of tightheads), but I think he may accidentally have made a very good point. If you assume that having traditional line out forwards is only an advantage during lineouts (kick offs are uncontrolled, and being 5cm taller than the next oke is no help at all in receiving them, whilst in scrums it’s strength, not height that counts), and since line outs and rucks are fundamentally the same in that they are contests for possession, then having traditional line out forwards can only be a benefit if the number of line outs exceeds the number of breakdowns. Since the number of breakdowns vastly exceeds the number of line outs, you should therefore have two extra loose forwards rather than traditional locks. Even if the opposition kick for touch more often, the number of line outs will never come close to exceeding the number of breakdowns, and by kicking more often you risk giving possession away (by not kicking the ball out, or if the opposition takes a quick line out) , and the extra loose forwards will then come into play. Imagine a forward pack consisting of Gurthro Steenkamp, Bismarck Du Plessis, BJ Botha, Danie Rossouw, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Heinrich Brossouw and Pierre Spies/Dewald Potgieter. We’d lose nothing in the scrums, very little in the line outs, but we’d dominate the breakdown (until people cottoned on and everybody dumped their locks, but it would be fun while it lasted).
What do you think?
11 Aug 2010, 14:24 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-85:
Just heard, the All Blacks test in the 3N next year will be in your valley – PE will host it.
11 Aug 2010, 14:29 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-88:
It all starts at a young age.
I attended a white rugby playing school from grade 1 to Matric. My dad watched rugby, my friends watched rugby. I was born into a strong culture of rugby. That culture was based within a small white community and was protected for the most part within that community via all white schools etc.
I had access to top facilities at school, fantastic coaches and I played in a league that had the best players in the Western Cape.
The barriers that prohibited many others (vast majority) within the country from enjoying that same upbringing have been lifted. There is no doubt which way the graph is curving now, only the rate of change can be debated.
In answer to your second question, again it goes back to a strong rugby culture amongst white folk in our country (with money). That trickles down to good coaching, facilities etc etc. Resource is probably the main contributing factor, along with culture that produces so many of the great South African players.
11 Aug 2010, 14:32 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-90:
I understand that, but the long and short of it, in my opinion, is that more and more black children are now attending what were previously white-only rugby-dominated schools – that is where it all starts.
And as long as that keeps happening, the numbers will follow through naturally.
11 Aug 2010, 14:34 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-39:
I tried that..the Speaker called security. B itch.
11 Aug 2010, 14:35 pm
Stormersboy is closest to the truth. It’s not about sheer numbers. Else 1 billion Chinese should be able to field a rugby team no one can beat.
In truth, 4 million New Zealanders would klap the 1 billion Chinese even if every Chinese dude and his granny played rugby since Kindergarten.
11 Aug 2010, 14:36 pm
@Croc(1panzi)-92:
Well it is definately out of the box thinking but not all that new.
Many locks has backed up as loosies in the past or the other way around.
Danie Rossouw, Andre Venter, AJ Venter to name a few.
However I think you understimate the importance of kick-offs and set pieces in general.
One could clearly see what an effect poor kick-off retention had on the Wallabies in their first test against the All Blacks.
As for set pieces the actual techniques involved in scrumming and line-out work is also very specialised (more scrumming).
Problem is momentum in any match is either gained or lost at set-pieces or in the tight 5.
Modern rugby has moved a lot of the emphasis away from these areas and effective rucking defensively or offensively does have a huge impact on the final result.
The very nature of combinations also determines a team’s effectiveness. Your tight 5 are specialists in the tight phases and bulk and brute strength here is very important.
Locks do not only need to be anchors or drivers in scrums and jumpers in line-outs – their roles as supporting players in phased or loose play is also vitally important and well defined offensively and defensively.
I think there has been a marked increase in the option of selecting an ‘athletic’ lock with a ‘enforcer’ lock as your preferred combination in modern rugby to offer you the best of both basically going to what you are eluding to.
One also however have to notice the immense impact a Brad Thorne, Martin Johnson, Nathan Sharpe and Bakkies Botha (when not suspended) has on the modern game to realise that they are still very important.
Remember, rugby is not always about the high-paced stuff running teams off their feet – at times, and against the best you have to grind wins out as-well and that is where your fatties are crucial…
11 Aug 2010, 14:38 pm
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-95:
That is true, but in context a hell of a lot of your traditional white, or rugby playing schools of old do not even present or offer the sport at school anymore too.
11 Aug 2010, 14:38 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt)-98:
Just look at the Bulls team collapse when Fudge Mabeta replaces Flip vd Merwe around the 60 minute mark.
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