Saru boss: Boks on track for World Cup

In the election scrum for top spot

THE SA Rugby Union (Saru) presidential elections take place on April 6, and Saru president Mark Alexander spoke on his vision for the game, the 2019 World Cup, the burning issue of transformation and Allister Coetzee’s exit as Springbok coach.

Alexander: I am only a year into massive changes implemented since I was asked to lead the organisation after Oregan Hoskins resigned in September 2016. To understand the advances we’ve made, one has to revisit where Saru was at the time of my predecessor’s resignation.

We had failed the government transformation targets. Absa had withdrawn as a sponsor from the Springboks, Sevens and Currie Cup because of lack of transformation. BMW had also withdrawn from the Boks. We had failed to raise R130 million in sponsorship because of a perception that Saru was at odds with the government.

Corporate investor confidence was at a low, as was our Springbok performance. We had lost 24 senior players to overseas or retirement, lost four Bok captains (Victor Matfield, Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez and Schalk Burger) and were guilty of poor player succession planning.

My first priority was to implement a 100- day operational strategic turnaround plan. It involved corporate investor roadshows that included six events and was attended by 480 corporate chief executives and directors.

Corporate SA had to see first- hand what we were changing. A strong rebranding and sponsorship programme was introduced and there was immediate governance reform.

The constitution was changed, the board would be made up of six elected and five independents; there would be female representation and the board would be majority black.

We restricted committees to streamline decision- making; the appointments of the chief executive and national coach were moved from the general council to the executive council.

We revamped competitions and this included reducing Super Rugby from six teams to four, changing the Currie Cup format to strength versus strength, and the introduction of an amateur Gold Cup National Club competition, the SuperSport Challenge competition, which meant taking rugby back to the communities. We also for the first time in our history introduced two teams to Europe’s Pro 14 competition.

Financially, we cut the budget to secured income streams only and cancelled unfunded projects.

We also had to address the Bok team performance of 2016 and after a review, we completed four coaching and conditioning indabas, established basic skills coaching and conditioning blueprints, which had not been done in 14 years, and we strengthened the 2017 Springbok coaching staff with Brendon Venter and Franco Smith.

MA: We believed Allister was the right choice. The two years he was in charge did not match our expectation.

The results were not good enough, the transformation targets were not being met and we had to act decisively to ensure the Springboks at the 2019 World Cup would be transformed, as agreed on with the government, and that they would be realistic title contenders.

MA: We showed the necessary leadership to effect the change. I know some people wanted it to happen more publicly, more swiftly and perhaps more dramatically after the Boks lost to Wales in Cardiff, but we had to respect legal and labour law processes.

It was handled with calm and with integrity. As a leadership we all wanted Allister to succeed because we want a successful Springbok team. The same applies to every one of our national teams. The same Saru leadership was serving when the Sevens Springboks were the most successful in the country’s history.

I don’t think it is as simple as saying those who hired Allister should go, because at the time there was justified optimism that he was the right choice based on his Super Rugby and Currie Cup record and Springbok record as a World Cup-winning assistant coach.

MA: Yes. We will reach those government targets and the new coach (Rassie Erasmus)

MA: Our game has to transform and be all-encompassing. It is the message that we are constantly reinforcing with our provincial affiliates. We can only lead by example and the make- up of SA Rugby’s five independent board members consists of two blacks, one female and two whites.

The board has 11 members and of those two are white and four black. Within Saru’s business structure there is an emphasis on female inclusiveness and two of our five most senior managers are women.

MA: A transformed and successful business in office anda transformed and successful national team on the field.

Mark Alexander