Rugby quota system to eradicate notion that blacks can only play wing – Hoskins

RUGBY boss Oregan Hoskins says one of the main reasons behind the new quota system for Vodacom Cup rugby is to change the mindset that “black players can only play on the wing”.

The South African Rugby Union announced yesterday that there would be “measurable targets” in the Vodacom Cup competition next year in terms of black player representation in teams. The 14 provincial unions would have to select a minimum of seven black players in a match squad of 22, and five of those must be in the starting line-up.

Two out of the seven have to be forwards as historically, coaches have tended to pick black players on the wing most of the time. Hoskins told the Cape Times yesterday this stereotype needed to change.

“The thinking behind (picking two black forwards) is that whenever players of colour were chosen, they were always put on the wing. And this idea was to say, let us get many more Siya Kolisis… We have to move away from the concept that black players can only play on the wing.

They were hoping that there could be “many more Siya Kolisis, Trevor Nyakanes (and) Nizaam Carrs”, he said.

Yesterday, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer selected his 23-man match squad that included four black players – Bryan Habana, Bjorn Basson, Tendai Mtawarira and Kolisi, with the first three in the starting line-up. But Hoskins said that there were no plans to implement a black-player quota at Currie Cup, Super Rugby or Springbok levels.

There had been no outside influences in Saru’s decision.

“There’s no political pressure whatsoever. No one has spoken to me from any political position.

“Last year, we had a transformation indaba (in Joburg) with all 14 provinces, and they all agreed to targets for transformation in all the teams. The average target for 2013 was 33 percent, and then 35 percent next year and then 40 percent – it would increase incrementally every year,” he said.

“But what has happened is that the provinces, especially the northern ones, have not reached those targets. In fact, if one goes back to the scrapping of the quota system 10 years ago, there has been a

The thinking behind (picking two black forwards) is that whenever players of colour were chosen, they were always put on the wing... We have to move away from the concept that black players can only play on the wing

decline in the number of black players in rugby teams.

“We never looked at the Currie Cup or Super Rugby. My hope is that when the Vodacom Cup bears fruit, it will have a ripple effect for the Currie Cup and Super Rugby. The Springboks are the top of the cake, so when I talk about a ripple effect, it must go into the Currie Cup, Super Rugby and Springbok teams.”

Western Province Rugby Union president Thelo Wakefield told the Cape Times yesterday that WP would have no difficulty in fulfilling the new quotas.

“We have the players, we have the talent, we have the structure in place,” said Wakefield.

He said that the WP Vodacom Cup team already fulfilled these targets. “Although at Western Province we come from an era where players of colour were very scarce… we have moved on to a stage where we don’t need to be worried about demographics or transformation issues in the team,” he said.

“In the past, I said we need to select more players of colour. I knew one of these days we would be prescribed and forced to do this by Saru.

“Our coaches understand what it means to transform the team. (WP Vodacom Cup coach) John Dobson understands this, and is trying his best to do this.”