Buck stops with Hoskins

SOUTH African Rugby Union president

Oregan Hoskins yesterday seemed to shift

most of the blame for the Springboks’ poor

transformation record over the last four

years on to outgoing coach Heyneke Meyer.

Yes, Meyer was responsible for picking the

teams, and made some selections and substitutions

that went against the spirit of transformation. But

he did it under Saru’s watch, and it surely had to

take a stand or give the coach the guidelines to im-

plement a transformation strategy.

Hoskins mentioned that he, as a South African,

had been disturbed by Meyer’s selections.

“I’m not disaffected about what happens, because

I come from a background when I want to see more

and more (black players coming through). But there

is a thin line between interfering with the team, be-

cause of the moral imperative of transformation,”

Hoskins said yesterday. “As an administrator it is a

difficult road to walk. It’s difficult because it is not

global best practice.”

But as an employee of Saru, Meyer should have

been reprimanded or at least spoken to if he didn’t

comply with the rules of the company. Now, after

four years, Saru makes Meyer the fall guy.

Hoskins mentioned yesterday that they need to

take a hard line about transformation, and the

next coach will have to accept this as one of the

important aspects of the job.

So hopefully Saru has finally learnt its lesson. At

the end of the day, the buck stops with Hoskins and

his administrators. They can’t turn a blind eye

when a Springbok coach selects only a black wing

and a Zimbabwean prop in the starting line-up of a

Springbok team.

Former president Nelson Mandela once said that

sport has the power to unite a nation. Meyer used this

quote when he announced his Springbok World Cup

squad earlier this year. Perhaps, with the help of Saru,

the next Springbok coach will take this to heart.