Springboks to introduce quota system

Editor

South Africa will have to field a side featuring 50% non-whites by 2019 to comply with SARU's new Strategic Transformation Plan.

South Africa will have to field a side featuring 50% non-whites by 2019 to comply with SARU's new Strategic Transformation Plan.

According to a report in Sunday newspaper Rapport, the new plan will mean the Springboks will have to field a team containing at least 50% of players of colour, of which 60% must be black Africans.

These plans will be put in place from top to bottom within South African rugby and will start as early as next year with Heyneke Meyer expected to pick a side featuring at least five black players for next year's World Cup.

The move comes after criticism from the Department of Sport at the lack of progress when it comes to transformation in rugby, with Tendai Mtawarira the only black African to start in last weekend's loss to Australia.

The aim is for all representative teams to contain at least 50% non-white players, and starting from next year the Junior Boks will have to select at least 12 players of colour in their 28-man squad for the Junior World Championships.

Meyer will also be encouraged to select at least seven players of colour in his matchday squad from next year, while there will be quotas put in place in terms of coaching, refereeing and administrators as well.

“It's a sustainable way to implement transformation in South African rugby,” said Mervin Green, Saru's general manager for development.

“Most of Saru's provinces have failed to yield results due to lack of proper talent identification and development programmes.

“The transformation plan will be monitored annually to identify barriers that have a negative impact on the implementation.”