Smal decries lack of drive for quotas push
Stormers boss urges more be done by provinces to unearth gems
EVEN with former Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer gone, South African rugby will grapple with the thorny transformation issue next year.
Western Province and Stormers director of rugby Gert Smal, who spent two years coaching the Border Bulldogs in 1998 and 1999, said the responsibility to widen the pool of quality black players rested with the 14 provincial unions.
Meyer presided over the most riotous year regarding transformation – or the lack thereof – in recent memory. Trade Union Cosatu claimed that five Springboks approached them complaining of unfair selection practices by Meyer, Bok jerseys were burnt in the Western Cape in protest and the littleknown political party Agency for New Agenda took the South African Rugby Union (Saru) to court in a failed bid to stop the team from going to the World Cup.
Madness aside, Smal said provinces needed to go to the outskirts and aggressively search for black talent. Saru want the Boks to be 50% black by 2019.
“All the provinces have a responsibility to grow the game, to go to outlying areas and let people know about rugby,” he told the Dispatch.
“That is what I did when I was at Border: I went to the Transkei, held coaching clinics and tried to see if I could find a gem there.
“At Border I didn’t have many players, so I had to look at all players in the union and gave everybody an opportunity. My first year was quite difficult because we got a fair number of hidings.
“But in my second, I knew exactly who the top players were and brought one or two from outside [the province]. In those days we didn’t have the amount of money that the provinces have at the moment and were budget-restricted.”
Springbok three-quarter Kaya Malotana, who became the first black African to play at a World Cup in 1999, was one such gem that came through the Border system.
But one of the other issues plaguing rugby is how to create more streams of reaching the top of the game, aside from traditional rugby schools and the Craven Week model. And there’s the question of what to do with a youngster that has been yanked away from a rural or township environment to the unfamiliar city.
“The main thing is to see if you can pick up gems along the way and, if you do, you need to bring them into the system and make them feel comfortable,” said Smal.
“If it’s a young player looking for an opportunity in life, one can take them to a special rugby school.
“A player needs to come into a system where he can eat and train properly and also have access to gyms. After that, he needs good coaching, which can develop him as quickly as he can.
“Sometimes what happens is that a player is not ready yet but people will be fairly impatient.”