The others are Gio Aplon, Trevor Nyakane, JJ Engelbrecht, Lionel Mapoe, Wiehahn Herbst and Demetri Catrakilis.

The group of players will assemble in Durban for the second training camp of the year, before the final squad for the Incoming Tours is selected.

Players not considered due to injury include: JP Pietersen, Jaco Taute, Frans Steyn, Johan Goosen, Duane Vermeulen, Pat Cilliers and Frans Malherbe.

The camp will commence this Sunday, following the involvement of all five South African franchises this weekend.

Forwards (19):
Tendai Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Jannie du Plessis, Coenie Oosthuizen, Wiehahn Herbst, Adriaan Strauss, Bismarck du Plessis, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Eben Etzebeth, Flip van der Merwe, Juandré Kruger, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Marcell Coetzee, Willem Alberts, Arno Botha, Lappies Labuschagne, Pierre Spies, Ryan Kankowski

Backs (19):
Jano Vermaak, Francois Hougaard, Pat Lambie, Morné Steyn, Elton Jantjies, Demetri Catrakilis, Jean de Villiers, Juan de Jongh, Jan Serfontein, Robert Ebersohn, JJ Engelbrecht, Bryan Habana, Lwazi Mvovo, Raymond Rhule, Lionel Mapoe, Bjorn Basson, Gio Aplon, Zane Kirchner, Willie le Roux

By Richard Ferguson

Stormers strong man Duane Vermeulen returned home from the Stormers Super Rugby tour because of injury and conservatively won’t play again until July. It could be that he is out for the remainder of the Super Rugby season as well because of knee ligament damage.

Stormers loose-forward Rynhardt Elstadt is also out for at least six weeks as the Cape-based franchise’s season went from bad to worse in Sydney.

Vermeulen, Meyer’s first choice No 8, will be nursed back to action for the Rugby Championship in August.

His injury means a likely Bok start for Bulls No 8 Pierre Spies, who in 2012 lost international ground to Vermeulen.

Meyer also rates Sharks No 8 Ryan Kankowski but the Durban-based player has been dropped and hasn’t played in the last month.

Scotland have lost three players to the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, and another handful of Six Nations regulars have been rested for the Tests in South Africa in June.

Acting head coach Scott Johnson said the purpose of the tour was to build squad depth and expose more players to international rugby.

The Boks play Scotland and Italy in a quadrangular that also involves Samoa.

Scotland squad

Backs: Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Tom Heathcote (Bath), Peter Horne, Ruaridh Jackson (both Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Sean Lamont, Peter Murchie, Henry Pyrgos (all Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Greig Tonks and Tim Visser (both Edinburgh).

Forwards: John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier), Kelly Brown (Saracens, captain), Geoff Cross, David Denton (both Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Sale Sharks), Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist (both Edinburgh), Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Steven Lawrie (Edinburgh), Moray Low, Pat MacArthur (both Glasgow Warriors), Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors), Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Tim Swinson and Ryan Wilson (both Glasgow Warriors).

Tomorrow, in a month’s time, the Springboks play their first International fixture of the year, against Italy at Kings Park. The biggest question surrounding this date is who will lead out the team that day.

Jean de Villiers is the current captain, even though he was only appointed for the 2012 calendar year. Heyneke Meyer might have little choice but to continue with the stalwart, but will this be a good thing? Can the Springboks do better than another season with Jean de Villiers at the helm?

The Boks are in a fortunate position that the June Internationals are not as serious as they have been in the past. Playing Italy, Scotland and then any of Italy, Scotland or Samoa on the final day of the quadrangular tournament does seem like we can risk a few of the inexperienced players. Meyer’s tactics going into this three week period will be interesting, as he will lose his players for two more months of Super Rugby before they re-assemble to take part in the Rugby Championship.

One of two things can happen. Meyer can opt for a few new players and combinations with one beady eye on the future, or he will look to get his combinations settles against the early opposition in an attempt to build consistency before tackling the bigger nations.

As it stands, Meyer is already without a host of key players. His early choice of captain in Schalk Burger is yet to take part in training with the Stormers, and his absence is looking increasingly like that of Juan Smith, where we will one day wake up to a retirement announcement. Apart from the injury rot, there are also key individuals who have already agreed terms to leave South Africa and will not be available to play in the Rugby Championship. Do these players now take part in June only to leave the Boks setup once they leave for Europe?

Taking all of this into account, the Boks have a few leaders from which they will have to select a captain. The easiest will be to stick with Jean de Villiers. He has been playing some of the best rugby we have seen from him in years. The only negative is that he lacks an important captain’s trait, which is the ability to motivate the players when the team is on the back foot.

Two other candidates spring to mind, in Adriaan Strauss and Pierre Spies. Strauss is almost certainly going to start for the Boks in the absence of a fit Bismarck du Plessis, but once the Sharks hooker is back, he will most likely return to the front row, leaving the Boks without a captain. Spies on the other hand, is a Meyer favourite, looks to be in good form at the moment and leads his team well. They are most certainly the form South African team at the moment and it will be great if Meyer can tap into that confidence and see similar rugby from the Boks.

Adriaan Strauss is a great captain himself and looks to have overcome some of his fitness concerns from earlier in the year. He has also led his Cheetahs team with aplomb, a team that has been very successful in Super Rugby this year.

Apart from these three, no other player currently in South Africa fits the mould of Springbok captain, and we surely cannot hand the captaincy of our national team to a player who is yet to captain his franchise.

All in all, it looks like we are in for an interesting month in terms of selections, and a very interesting year when it comes to looking at the Rugby Championship.

Rossouw’s effort and the 43-21 win wasn’t enough for Toulon to finish the Top 14 in first place. Europe’s wealthiest club settled for second behind Clermont who won for a record 60th consecutive time at home.

Rossouw, Bakkies Botha and Joe van Niekerk all started in the win against relegated Agen.
In the French Top 14 the final is always played at the Stade de France so semi-final home ground advantage is only applicable for the teams finishing one and two. To this end Touloun have achieved their season’s aim.

Toulon and Clermont will already meet in the European Cup final later this month and both have the chance to win the domestic and European double.

Saracens were easy winners against Bath, for whom former Bok Michael Claassens played his final match.

Claassens has been linked with a move to Toulon to join new recruits Bryan Habana and Drew Mitchell.

Rory Kockett scored 15 points Castres’s one point defeat at Racing Metro and currently is second only to Jonny Wilkinson for most points scored this season. Kockett has scored over 300 points.

Saracens, beaten by Toulon in the European Cup semi-finals, will host their Premiership semi-final.

Should they win then the final will be 2007 World Cup-winning captain John Smit’s final match.

Ten English cities plus Cardiff will host 48 matches.

The 13 match venues and host cities selected are: Twickenham Stadium (London), Wembley Stadium (London), Olympic Stadium (London), Millennium Stadium (Cardiff), Manchester City Stadium (Manchester), St James’ Park (Newcastle), Elland Road (Leeds), Leicester City Stadium (Leicester), Villa Park (Birmingham), Kingsholm Stadium (Gloucester), stadiummk (Milton Keynes), Brighton Community Stadium (Brighton) and Sandy Park (Exeter).

The World Cup final will take place at Twickenham on 31 October.

Boks’ 2015 World Cup Pool schedule

19 September: South Africa vs Asia 1, Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton
26 September: South Africa vs Samoa, Villa Park, Birmingham
3 October South Africa vs Scotland, St James Park, Newcastle
7 October South Africa vs Americas 2, Olympic Stadium, London

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has also rewarded Bulls captain Pierre Spies and struggling Sharks utility back Frans Steyn.

No player based outside of South Africa qualifies for a national contract.

Meyer has awarded contracts to four loose-forwards, two locks, two hookers, two props, two utility backs in Hougaard and Pat Lambie and two specialist midfielders in Bok captain Jean de Villiers and Juan de Jongh.

Frans Steyn has also been awarded a national contract.

SPRINGBOK CONTRACTED PLAYERS: Willem Alberts (Sharks), Marcell Coetzee (Sharks), Juan de Jongh (Western Province), Jean de Villiers (Western Province), Bismarck du Plessis (Sharks), Jannie du Plessis (Sharks), Eben Etzebeth (Western Province), Francois Hougaard (Blue Bulls), Pat Lambie (Sharks), Tendai Mtawarira (Sharks), Pierre Spies (Blue Bulls), Frans Steyn (Sharks), Adriaan Strauss (Free State Cheetahs), Flip van der Merwe (Blue Bulls), Duane Vermeulen (Western Province)

Tony Blair said: “A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in, and how many want out”, a quote that can easily be taken in context with the current situation in South African rugby.

Every week we learn of another player that is heading to Japan, or even worse, heading to Europe, chasing greener playing pastures where the Yen/Pound/Euro pay cheque is not to be frowned upon. It is in these times that we should look to what is chasing them away instead of focusing on the lure.

It is a simple answer – Super Rugby. Super Rugby has gone from being the best rugby competition in the world to just another competition that players are not too disappointed in if they should miss it. It has become the Currie Cup on a bigger scale.

The length of the competition, coupled with the amount of physical strains endured to face local competition in heated battle is simply breaking our players. We have seen it happen in the past and we will continue to see it, in greater scale, as the seasons continue. But you know this already, it is well documented and I assume we can all agree on this.

So we know what the problem is, yet nobody is doing anything to prevent our players from crossing the border. One can hardly blame the players; this is their profession after all. One can hardly blame Heyneke Meyer for selecting players based across from our borders, again, it is his job to put the best team on the field and win. So who do we blame?

I will leave the blame-game to others; instead, I want to look towards an answer. Let’s face it, Super Rugby will never go back to the old days of Super 12, where each team plays each other once, we have the play-offs and we are done after three months. So the answer does not lie with the competition, it lies with the management of our players.

Many will dispute the sabbatical Richie McCaw has taken from Super Rugby so far this year. But is it not better to retain a player than to lose him to another competition altogether. The focus in South Africa should turn to identifying players like McCaw and putting a plan in place to allow these players to have a few months extra off every so often.

If New Zealand Rugby can allow for McCaw to take six months off, to not only lengthen his career and allow us all to see him play at another World Cup, but to see him play at the best of his abilities because he is not injured for two years at a time, why can we not do the same?
If we can allow Schalk Burger for instance, to sit on the sideline injured for a second year now, why could we not have allowed him a break that would have seen him not injure himself, and probably back playing already? I know that is a simple example, but the real effects of allowing players time off will be beneficial to not only the players, but the competition and the supporters.

This may not be the solution, I accept that it is a bit of a pipe dream, but we need to shift our focus. We are losing players at the rate of knots and nobody is seemingly interested in putting a stop to it. We need South African Rugby to make it worth the while of our players to remain in the country, something that the Rand and the Green and Gold jersey is not doing at this stage.

I read this quote somewhere: “Make the money, don’t let the money make you. Change the game, don’t let the game change you”. I think that is so relevant to the above situation and I can only hope that somewhere someone is changing the game.

Meyer, speaking to the media during the two day Bok camp in Cape Town, bemoaned the hold the Japanese clubs held over players in excluding them from international rugby, and said Andries Bekker’s absence would be massive for the Boks this season.

Meyer praised the efforts of several European-based Boks and said if the player was a better option than the local player he’d get selected. In the case of a 50-50 call the local-based player would be favoured.

However, Meyer said the nature of Japenese club contracts forced players to commit exclusively to the club. Those who play in Japan give up playing international rugby, while the core of those in Europe are still available for selection.

Meyer felt the form of Bakkies Botha had been impressive among the South African veterans overseas while he endorsed the claims of Sharks lock Du Toit.

‘I’m very worried about the No 5 lock position,’ said Meyer. ‘Andries is playing some of his best rugby but he won’t be available. The No 5 lock is probably the most important player in the pack because he runs the lineouts, is heavily involved in scrums and organises and takes most of the restarts. To lose a player of his experience and class is a big blow.

‘I’ve identified one or two players who could be shifted from other positions. (Pieter-Steph) Du Toit has played in other positions but I believe he could be the answer there. That said, it takes two or three years for a young player to become comfortable in that role, so we have to be patient.

‘I also believe Bakkies Botha can still play for the Springboks. Eben Etzebeth came through brilliantly last year, but how much better can he be with Bakkies mentoring him?’

Meyer, who in his first year was initially reluctant to pick overseas players, included seven in his end of year touring squad. He had also picked Bath-based flanker Francois Louw for the Rugby Championship.

‘He (Francois Louw) is a perfect example of a player who is based abroad who adds tremendous value. He was probably the player who changed our 2012 season for the better when he came into the mix.’

Van der Westhuizen did not take part in a parade that honoured Bulls players of the last 75 years and it was assumed his health didn’t allow for the strains and demands of the parade.

Van der Westhuizen, a 1995 World Cup winner, and one of South Africa’s most celebrated players, suffers from Motor Neuron Disease. He was diagnosed two years ago.

Rapport Newspaper showed images of Van der Westhuizen in a wheelchair and compared images of Van der Westhuizen in his prime as a Bok player to the frail image of today’s man struck down by illness.

Van der Westhuizen, despite the obvious tribulation, still communicates daily on his Twitter feed.

New Bok jersey

What do you think?

New features in the jersey include:

· State-of-the-art materials and blends (93% polyester and 7% elastane).

· Fewer panels and seams, providing extra comfort, ease of movement and stretch, as well as lighter weight and higher energy output.

· Ultimate body-mapping fit, thanks to a newly constructed Loop 21.1 neckline.

· Only one fabric used for both the body and the sleeves.

· Bold design for players and supporters.

· Authentic and easily recognizable.

Mallett will take charge of the Baabaas for the one-off match in London on May 16. The proceeds of the match will go towards the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson fund.

It is a great off field initiative but Mallett’s selection of South African players based in Europe and abroad for the match will give Bok coach Heyneke Meyer a good opportunity to assess certain combinations that are not playing their rugby in South Africa or at the same club in Europe.

The squad would be confirmed depending on availability.

There is also no place for Cheetahs world-class loose-forwards Heinrich Brussow and Lappies Labuschagne.

Le Roux is the most flamboyant of the South African back three options, the in-form South African winger in Super Rugby and the most noted omission from Meyer’s first picks of the year.

Meyer, as every coach does, qualified the squad by saying it doesn’t represent a closed shop but the failure to identify Le Roux as a squad option says more about how Meyer is investing in the conservative and predictable than a player who thrives on instinct.

There is reward for the youngsters who have made an impression in this season’s first two months of the competition and there are inclusions made on potential rather than performance.

Bulls centre Jan Serfontein is one such player. He has played less than three matches in game time but is included because of the form he showed for the Baby Boks last year.

Serfontein is being introduced to the Bok culture and it is still likely he will be used with the Baby Boks this season and introduced to Test rugby on the end of year tour.

Meyer, given the Boks play Scotland and Samoa in the home Tests, has room to mix and match veterans with new players and try out new combinations.

Sharks lock Pieter-Steph du Toit and Cheetahs centre Robert Ebersohn have demanded inclusion through consistently very good displays.

The training camp will be held from April 14-16 in Cape Town and no Kings players were considered for the camp, as they will only just have returned from overseas.

Meyer said the credentials of Kings players would be considered for the second camp, to be held in Durban and the end of May.

Meyer has kept with the core group of Boks he used last year.

Teenage flyhalf Handré Pollard, who excelled for the Baby Boks in 2012 and was the star of the Tukkies title challenge in the Varsity Cup, will remain with the Baby Boks for now.

Andries Bekker and Jacques Potgieter, tied into Japanese club commitments, were not considered. Neither was injured utility back Jaco Taute.

Juandre Kruger and Morne Steyn, who will both play in France post the Super Rugby season, are still part of the group.

Bulls utility back JJ Engelbrecht, picked to start last year, has not made the training squad.

No overseas-based players will attend the training camps.

Players invited to the first Springbok training camp of 2013:

Forwards: Tendai Mtawarira, Jannie du Plessis, Frans Malherbe, Coenie Oosthuizen, Pat Cilliers, Adriaan Strauss, Bismarck du Plessis, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Eben Etzebeth, Flip van der Merwe, Juandré Kruger, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Franco van der Merwe, Siya Kolisi, Marcell Coetzee, Willem Alberts, Arno Botha, Duane Vermeulen, Pierre Spies, Ryan Kankowski.

Backs: Jano Vermaak, Francois Hougaard, Pat Lambie, Morné Steyn, Elton Jantjies, Jean de Villiers, Frans Steyn, Juan de Jongh, Jan Serfontein, Robert Ebersohn, Bryan Habana, Lwazi Mvovo, Raymond Rhule, JP Pietersen, Bjorn Basson, Zane Kirchner.

If results were the deciding factor in determining where the Boks play the All Blacks then the only three places that should be hosting the All Blacks are Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and of course Ellis Park.

Roux told the media: ‘The Executive Committee’s first priority in awarding Tests is to determine which environment best suits the Springboks and least suits their opponents. The second consideration is commercial.

‘Naturally, the fact that New Zealand have been successful in their last three matches at Newlands is an important factor when determining allocations.’

What utter garbage Jurie.

Given that argument the All Blacks should never play again at Loftus, where they have crushed the Boks in recent times. They should not play in Durban where they have enjoyed success and they should never be allowed close to Soccer City where they have given the Boks a rugby lesson two years in succession.

It is absurd to even suggest that if the Boks struggle against a particular opponent at a certain ground then future contests at the ground would be avoided.

The Springboks, given this type of argument, should play every one of their Tests in Johannesburg at Ellis Park.

Roux’s comments are embarrassing. They also punish a passionate rugby community in Cape Town, whose crowd attendance in Super Rugby and Test rugby over the last decade has no equal in this country.

The underlying resentment is that so many coloured rugby fans support New Zealand, but it is their democratic right to support whoever they want to. My issue always has been the crass and thuggish behaviour in relation to this support.

It also has to be emphasised that it is only a minority within the local New Zealand coloured and white support that has turned one of rugby’s great spectator experiences into something less savoury.

Security measures simply have to be increased to keep this element in check. To punish the passionate supporter because the Boks have not been good enough to win in Cape Town against New Zealand is beyond belief. That kind of decision stinks of militant apartheid type decision-making.

To present it as justifiable for ignoring Newlands as a venue for All Blacks versus Springbok Tests is an insult to every rugby supporter in Cape Town.

Jurie, go and check the Springboks’ results against the All Blacks in South Africa since 1992 before making such a ridiculous statement. You are by all accounts an intelligent man but you’ve insulted your own intelligence as much as you have that of every passionate rugby supporter in Cape Town.

WP-FOREVER kindly supplied the following breakdown
South African Tri-Nations venues featuring All Blacks: Newlands: 4 matches – won 1, lost three (25% success rate) – average score 11-19. Kings Park: 5 matches, won 2, lost three (40% success rate) – average score 24-24. Ellis Park: 5 matches, won 4, lost one (80% success rate) – average score 33-27. Loftus: 4 matches, lost four (0% success rate) – average score 22-41. Bloemfontein: 1 match, 1 won (100% success rate) – average score 28-19.
PE: 1 match, 1 won (100% success rate) – average score 18-5
Soccer City: 2 matches, 2 defeats – average score 19 – 31
Bafokeng: 1 match, 1 win – average score 21-20

The Boks, in a repeat of their tournament win in Las Vegas, beat Series leaders New Zealand in the final.

The Boks, who trailed 12-0 at halftime, dominated the second half to win 24-19.

The Boks had earlier edged France 14-12 in the semi-finals after an impressive 19-12 win against Samoa in the quarter-final.

The five year Google Analytics show 2.3 million visited the site in the last five years and the average time spent on site per visit is eight minutes.

In excess of 10 million pages are read every year.

Thank you to the game’s most loyal brand of brothers and sisters.

It’s appreciated. You’ve made Keo.co.za the best rugby pub in the world.

Give me suggestions on how to reward this loyalty. Do we plan a party in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg for later in the year to celebrate the landmark?

Post your comments here on whether you think a Keo ’5 years 50 million pages’ is something you guys and girls would attend.

Post your comments on any suggestions.

Thanks again for making the blog your rugby playground of choice.

Yours, in gratitude and appreciation.

Keo

Racing have confirmed the signatures of Steyn following the completion of Super Rugby this season as well as Bulls lock Juandre Kruger.

Bulls flank Jacques Potgieter, who has signed for the Bulls Super Rugby team until 2015, also appears headed to Japan in place of playing Currie Cup rugby.

Rapport’s Stephen Nell reported that Stormers and Bok lock Andries Bekker appears headed to Japan following the Super Rugby season.

Stormers and Bok wing Bryan Habana has already confirmed he will be joining fellow Boks Joe van Niekerk and Bakkies Botha at the internationally star-studded Toulon.

The southern French club lead the Top 14.

Louis Luyt is dead but the lie that defines his legacy to the game as legendary must also be buried. He was destructive in everything he did as president of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) and motivated by his own agenda and ego and he was a risk to the future of the game.

He functioned on fiction because only he knew what was closer to fact.

This is a condemnation of Luyt the Sarfu president. It is not a reflection on his right to be respected as a father, husband and friend.

He was a crass leader who thrived on the humiliation of others and he caused pain to many people with decisions that were not based on rugby but on his own insecurity and paranoia. There can’t be reward for lacking emotional intelligence and there can never be justification for the chaos.

Luyt’s legacy was a dictatorship that threatened more than a sport’s unity. He harmed the sport and he embarrassed the sport without consequence or without remorse. He did it regularly and saw it as refusing to be intimidated.

He was a reminder of everything the world detested in apartheid South Africa but he survived on the fears of those who were uncertain about the future and ill-informed and still related to noise as leadership, when introspection and reflection were words more appropriate to change. A legacy is earned through innovation and the impact of an action; not an ability just to react.

Luyt was a fighter and his strength was based on survival. Sarfu needed calm and vision and he provided chaos and confrontation.

It suited his needs because the noise was part of the illusion that he was taking charge of rugby’s future. He was a fascinating character because of his contradictions, but he was not good for the game and he stifled progress through his inability to transform his own thinking. He was unsure about his status and he always overcompensated with boasts when unsure, be it because of lack of knowledge or because he threatened his ability to use Sarfu to define his influence in a community that used his voice when necessary but never fully endorsed him as part of the exclusive brotherhood.

This was down to class and not race. It was this lack of acceptance that tortured him. But he knew about survival because of a background that battled poverty. Wealth would also be measured on status and worth. To get there he would fight. So he fought because that meant not allowing for discussion and not risking being exposed on an intellectual level.

He was a clever man but he lacked introspection because of insecurities in not having a high schooling. It meant he only knew how to make statements.

In his world that was strength. To ask a question was to invite trouble.

Leadership is at its most seductive when those in charge can take pleasure out of another’s achievement. Luyt could never do that because he could not even take pleasure out of his own successes.

He had an incredible work ethic, which intimidated and compensated for an inability to see beyond what worked for him personally and as a leader. He also blurred the power of knowledge with the gathering of information on individuals to further entrench his presidency. He had menace when there should have been mentorship. He never made an apology for any of his actions and a man who always thinks he gets it right is a man who is rarely getting it right.

He embraced those vulnerable to his projections of strength and bullying and he never saw the contradiction in how he applied the morality of the God-fearing man and the lack of morality in his manipulation of people.

We once debated loyalty and he was absolute. People, he said, crossed him once and thought they had won. He told them to enjoy the feeling because he would make sure they spent the rest of their lives reminded of what price to pay for betrayal in loyalty.

His life was interesting but he was too preoccupied in the potential of others to be the enemy that he found a reason to justify an agenda that in turn would justify a reaction for a confrontational engagement.

His ego would never allow him modesty and he insisted he had earned the right to be called doctor. Titles and status are what he felt defined his characters. His actions were for gain. When was it ever about rugby?

His rugby world was a creation to compensate for what he felt he lacked in a personal space. He could be charming but his charm was too often determined by the personal gain. He bored easily if he was not the primary beneficiary. His mind was always busy but the intent wasn’t always flattering and he excused any criticism as a necessary to protect the game from those who didn’t understand it. He blamed the government and rugby was his status for greater acceptance in an Afrikaans elite that would never see him as their equal. 

The bully was his default mechanism and if he was full of bravado he didn’t have to front his fears of being inferior. He did not trust anyone but celebrated just how many enemies he had. Enemies caused fear. Friends could only cause confusion. 

He was convinced he needed no one to survive but he never understood that to survive is not to necessarily inspire. Not that it would have been a consideration. He was angry that he was disliked although he denied it and there was an element in him that deliberately added to the dislike. The man who made rugby his kingdom was always aware that the boy in him wanted acknowledgement and reward.

He never found his place in South African society and always felt he had been short-changed. If he wasn’t getting the recognition then why would he celebrate anyone else.

He took nothing from the game unless he was the beneficiary. He justified everything in the name of Springbok rugby and the Afrikaans culture and he manipulated the game that represented the culture more than a sport. Where most would find a smile he found suspicion.

I liked him but he was not happy.

I always got the feeling he wouldn’t even allow for that because that could be an admission he had not won.

He was always in conflict and his tenure was about fighting whoever he felt provided a cover to the real issue, which was his insecurity.

He took but he gave little.  

It is one thing to preach from a self-made pedestal but a leader of men is also an inspiration to the very men he leads.

He wanted mystique but then couldn’t resist telling you what he had done for South African rugby. He created an identity he believed would give him acceptance and he alienated every dominating personality.

He was a preacher of what he wanted portrayed, yet the intention to be liked and revered was not something he could ask for, so as he lost a disciple who realised the legend is what makes the man but the actions of the man that confirms the flaws in the legend.

If the game was his passion and the future of the game was his only concern we would be talking about his vision, his succession plan and his leadership.

The story would be of the guy who turned rags into silk but knew God. It is embarrassing. The only thing he gave rugby was conflict and blood. He adopted a militant style approach in which he spoke and never allowed for a response.

He stripped players of power and humiliated them and threatened their futures in the media. In a country where fear and conflict were positives that someone was in charge, he put himself in charge of the game and was never asked what he was actually going to do to make it the game for all South Africans.

He used the divide and rule among blacks and whites because he recognised weakness in an individual and played the vulnerabilities to facilitate whatever outcome that comes with uncertainty.

He took Nelson Mandela and the government to court to prove he was still a white Afrikaner who would not be intimidated by the black government.

He made sure it was a page one report.

He did it, he said, to show Afrikaners still had a voice and still had fight. He then used rugby as the punching bag.

He used culture, white fears and black unknowns to have so many applauding his strengths. But it was never about resolution or calm. It was about conflict and chaos because when there is no fight then there is usually reflection. In a fight there is only time to react.

Luyt’s legacy conflicts with every single entity that makes up the fabric of the game. He took the game he supposedly loved and made it his own game. He was an untouchable because he manipulated the executive structure – and when fear no longer sufficed neither did his games inspire even laughter.

He still couldn’t see the moral crime in subjecting Mandela to take the witness stand. He claimed victory but it also confirmed stupidity.

He tried so hard to create an identity of the Lions but he was a railway clerk whose arrogance and defiance was a misrepresentation of the culture whose silence he interpreted as a fight.

He fired by fax and turned the most disgraceful of acts into a kind of legend which applauded a man who was prepared to make the hard calls. All he knew was hardship and that is all he gave back to South African rugby.

It is disgusting that he was allowed to operate in such isolation and as a law unto himself. He clearly had a mind that favoured his own survival but emotional intelligence is the result of an environment and tutorship and being taught, not self-taught.

He never added value to the game’s evolution. There is no legacy to applaud. His rugby administration was a contradiction. Morality was as interpretive as was loyalty and betrayal.

Rugby was the platform for Luyt to turn a lost soul into a tortured one and he tried to make everyone believe that his soul knew only sacrifice.

He was a sad man because not only did he derive pleasure at the expense of others but the ultimate humiliation was of his own doing because his identity and influence believed there was substance to his existence, but he could never get what he thought was a show of strength. And arrogance was ignorance and in degrees of ignorance the worst form is when there is a belief that all the ugly qualities that make a leader uninspiring are presented as strengths of a no-nonsense leader.

Luyt did not entertain minds that would expose the limitations of his own and it is one thing to fight but another to succeed without a fight.

A day before his death no one cared for his rants. A day after the myth is magnified. The platitudes have been predictable and inoffensive but the inane nature is more insult than compliment to the King of Ellis Park and self-proclaimed King of the Rugby Jungle. 

In death he did no evil. In life he only knew evil.

Luyt’s final act as South African rugby chief was to embarrass the intellect and integrity of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans who are excited by inclusion on the world map and not offended that it was not listed as the chosen planet.

The good doctor was so insecure at what he hadn’t experienced because of his environment that he believed titles would create the illusion of intelligence and that fear was just another way of making sure no one disputed he was the boss.

His decision to humiliate one of the world’s saints was the act of a sinner; alternatively a man who was showing his lack of class, education and upbringing. His attempts to justify his action and his conviction in doing so belong on The Jerry Springer Show.

He always spoke of not needing to be popular and then he found something in popularity that he sold to himself as weakness.

Come to think of it, he rarely spoke about what was good for South African rugby. He always spoke about what he was doing for South African rugby and he created the chaos and never had time to explain what it was that kept him so busy. He didn’t give South African rugby professionalism. He didn’t care. In the last few years all he did was condemn the government. He manipulated the weakness in rugby’s administration to impress his strength.

He was an impostor as a leader and the game deserved so much more. Luyt, when he lived, benefited from the illusion of his leadership.

Don’t allow the lie to continue.

– This article first appeared in the March issue of Business Day Sport Monthly, which is distributed FREE with the newspaper on the second last Friday of every month.

Francois Louw is a better player now than when he left Western Province for Bath. Percy Montgomery returned to South Africa a more accomplished player than the 50 Test veteran who left for Wales and who many accepted was past his best and would never again play Test rugby. Montgomery added 52 Tests to his CV, won the Tri Nations and was integral to South Africa winning the World Cup in 2007.

He never turned his back on South Africa. Montgomery was drained from the routine of Super Rugby, Test Rugby, Currie Cup Rugby and Test Rugby. He wanted to experience something else and he just needed a bit of time away from the public glare. Montgomery has often told me what his time in Wales taught him was to be a rugby professional and to assume the responsibility of the overseas professional. He said he grew up as a person but more so his rugby matured because he was taken out of his comfort zone.

Ditto Louw and ditto so many other South Africans who are currently playing in Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and even in Japan.

It is the way of the modern game the our best players can command the highest salaries in European club rugby and it is not a crime for any young player to want to reap the financial rewards, experience a change of pace in life, grow as a person and by circumstance of experiencing new responsibility become a better rugby player.

The vitriol from within the South African rugby support base is a common package directed at any player who wants to experience an overseas stint. Immediately he is cast as the villain and immediately the local based player is put on a pedestal of loyalty to the national jersey and the national flag. It is absurd in the context of the evolution of the sport as a profession, and it betrays the incredible value to those players who at an early age experience the overseas influence and return to South Africa in their mid 20s so much wiser and adding so much more value to rugby teams in South Africa and to the national cause.

I’ve constantly been amazed at the ‘out of sight out of mind’ attitude, especially when so much of the English Premiership, French Top 14 and Heineken Cup is shown on SuperSport, and that so many of the South African players are consistently the best performers.

Somewhere a misguided principle of patriotism has painted these South Africans as sinners to the cause of the South African game because their talent allows for interest and lucrative financial reward from Europe’s wealthiest clubs.

Ronaldo did not sell out to Portugal soccer because he earns his monthly salary at the club prepared to pay him his market value and more. The same applies to every South African soccer talent that is overseas based. I don’t want this misinterpreted as saying being based overseas makes a player automatically better than what is based in this country but why choose one or the other when the option should be to choose both or make an informed national selection based on player pedigree and form and not where the player is based.

Steyn won a World Cup at the age of 20. He had won a Tri Nations and a British and Irish Lions series at the age of 22. He needed something to rekindle the enthusiasm of the schoolboy who won his first Test cap a year after finishing his schooling. He went to Paris very much a young man with a sheltered view of the world and return a mature young man with a very different view of the world, of his own country and of his responsibility to his chosen profession.

Steyn, had he stayed in South Africa, may at 26 years old have been considering giving it all up and playing out the final four years of his career in a less demanding Japanese club environment for huge financial gain. He may have given up on the ideal of Bok rugby and contributing to rugby within South Africa because seven successive years of scrutiny and intensity within the South African rugby landscape had drained him and left him exhausted, fatigued and flat.

His move to France turned a boy into the man who John Plumtree has now entrusted with the captaincy at the Sharks.

Plumtree said Steyn was a leader of men, a player with vast experience, in South Africa and abroad, and a winner. He also knew what it meant to be a professional.

It is a fantastic endorsement from Plumtree but also reward for a player who never betrayed South African rugby and also never betrayed his love for the game. Instead he recognised what he needed to reinvent his enthusiasm and to challenge his comfort zone.

Steyn is just one example of how leaving South Africa for a short term gave him an appetite for a longer contribution to the game in South Africa.

Steyn’s story is one that hopefully continues to challenge the outdated and simply outrageous belief that a player who leaves South Africa to play abroad sells out on South African rugby and should be treated as a traitor. Judge a South African player on what he offers this country’s national rugby and not on the country in which he decides to get reward for his rugby talent.

Supporter mindsets must change because the professional status of the player has ensured that their mindsets also had to change.

By Mark Keohane