Boks captain stirs quota debate
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi has stirred up the transformation process, saying the late South African President Nelson Mandela wouldn’t have supported racial quotas for the national rugby team.
Kolisi, the first black player to captain the South African test team, was speaking during a promotional visit to Japan.
Asked how he felt Mandela would have viewed the controversial quotas introduced to the current side, Kolisi said: ‘‘I don’t think he would have supported that, but I don’t know him.’’
He then entered his own views which tend to run against the rules laid down by his bosses.
‘‘You shouldn’t put a number on stuff like that,’’ Kolisi said.
‘‘I wouldn’t want to be picked because of my skin colour because that surely wouldn’t be good for the team and the guys around you would know.
‘‘It’s tough for us as players because when you put a certain amount or number on it [transformation]‚ are you actually there because you’re good enough or . . . even if you are good enough you [a black player] can doubt yourself.’’
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has been set tough targets. In his first season in charge last year, he was meant to have 45 per cent of his team selections made up of players of colour.
He went close with 38.3 per cent achieved, though on the November tour to Europe he selected only four black starters against England, three against France and four each against Scotland and Wales.
The ratio target rises this year to 50 per cent for the World Cup in Japan.
Kolisi believes the changes need to come at lower levels and used his own example to try to prove that.
‘‘If you want to talk about transformation, you have got to start there (at a grassroots level,’’ he said.
‘‘Imagine I hadn’t gone to an English school. I wouldn’t have eaten properly, I wouldn’t have grown properly and I wouldn’t have had the preparation that the other boys did.
‘‘It’s tough. Maybe in the Currie Cup you can try guys out and push people in and see how they do, but you can’t just [pick somebody in the Springboks side because of his colour].
‘‘In South Africa it’s tough because we want results and transformation. The talent is there, it’s just about nurturing it.’’
Erasmus has said he believes he has made progress. He is on a six-year deal as director of rugby and intends stepping away from being the Springboks coach after the World Cup.