All eyes are on Kiwi planning
“You can never please everybody as president, but there are some great memories, from being the first person of colour to become president (of a major union), spending a weekend in Bloemfontein with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, being a director of the Rugby World Cup and living in the houses of friends all over South Africa, rather than staying in hotels. It was an opportunity to get to know South Africans of all colours and creeds and there are unbelievable memories,” Hoskins said.
Transformation and the structure of the game are two issues still bedevilling South African rugby, with Hoskins saying progress had been made in the former.
“I’ve seen transformation happen at all levels, I’ve seen it in the supporters and it makes me so proud, that was a victory for me. Ten years ago there were lots of questions about the national team, but now it is less of a big issue. The major stakeholders, government and sponsors need to jointly govern transformation.
“There’s no doubt the structure of South African rugby is totally flawed and we are still a long way off getting it right. Many of our efforts don’t grow because of the poor system and until there is total equity ownership of all rugby entities from clubs to franchises, it’s going to be very difficult to satisfy the political demands rugby faces,” Hoskins said.
Tendai Mtawarira will equal Os du Randt’s record for the most capped Springbok prop on Saturday in Argentina, but Hoskins remembers him in tears in his house in 2009 when his Test career was still at a fledgling stage.
“I’ll never forget a young Beast walking into my house in Westville in tears because Makhenkesi Stofile had phoned and said he can’t play for the Springboks anymore because he wasn’t a South African citizen. Beast was broken and I made it my duty to make sure he played for the Springboks. I got to meet Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, then at home affairs, and pleaded with her and she gave Beast citizenship there and then, so he became a Springbok again,” Hoskins recalled.
Helping to bring stability in the Springbok coaching position will also be a lasting legacy of Hoskins’.
Helping to grow rugby in Africa will be Hoskins’ focus in the game for the time being, with a shipment of kit already on its way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo thanks to his efforts.
– All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s long-term planning will again come into focus today when they face the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship, with his mantra of ‘‘raising the bar’’ also likely to be tested.
Hansen’s goal in 2016 has been about ‘‘refreshing’’ the team with an eye on becoming the first side to win three successive World Cups when Japan hosts the tournament in 2019, consistently improving the team’s standard of play along the way.
The inclusion of uncapped centre Anton Lienert-Brown for the clash at Wellington Regional Stadium is the latest selection gamble Hansen has made on young players. The 21-year-old, who will be the seventh debutant this season, had been on the selectors’ radar since he was a student at Christchurch Boy’s High, Hansen said, though his elevation came “probably a little earlier than expected”.
“All of us knew who he was ... and that’s why he’s here,” Hansen told reporters this week. “We’re very confident that he’ll go out and do the job.”
Michael Cheika’s men have been pilloried by their own fans, media and former players since that “Bledi awful” defeat, with the side labelled as the worst Wallabies team in a decade.
Cheika has been hampered by a raft of injuries to his inside backs and a lack of depth in other areas.
That lack of depth has forced him to stick with largely the same side as last week, while injuries have necessitated a recall for flyhalf Quade Cooper with Bernard Foley shunted to inside centre.
The mercurial Cooper, who once could turn a game on its head with his vision and passing, has not been able to rediscover that same spark since suffering a knee injury at the 2011 World Cup. –