South Africa is scheduled to open its campaign with a game against Japan on September 19.
Cape Town – Lwazi Mvovo gets former Springbok wing Breyton Paulse’s vote to start for the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup.
The grass is being grown in soil drawn from all 14 South African rugby provinces.
The South African turf will be the last thing the players’ boots touch before they head for the field during the tournament.
“I still battle to understand the rules of both cricket and rugby, but definitely we will be supporting our team that represents the country”. Former Springbok captain Krige said the turf would inspire the team before every match. But preventing the team from going to London is absurd and I don’t see it as possible. And the team can feel that…
“Transformation is being stopped by having all the white coaches there to push an agenda to stop it. They stopped a natural evolution of transformation, they never let it go on to become great and we would never have had this problem now”, De Villiers said.
World Rugby is concerned about issues relating to stadia which will be used during the 2019 event, with the National Stadium recently taken off the table by the hosts due to the exorbitant cost of its construction. And the team has been picked. “The parties have until tomorrow afternoon to present a draft order to the court on the way forward regarding the ANA’s constitutional challenge to the manner in which players [are selected for the squad]”. Also, the fact that there are only eight players of colour in the 31-man squad has brought the issue of transformation to the fore once again.
“Transformation is grinding very slowly”, Judge Ntendeya Mavundla said at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital.
Sources suggest that South African Rugby Union (SARU) chief executive Jurie Roux was involved in secret meetings with World Rugby during the course of the week with a view to understanding if South Africa would be able to act as a late backup for the Japanese should the governing body choose to take the tournament hosting rights away from them. “Every federation must be revisited”.
How much any of this has contributed to the Springboks’ poor recent run is unclear. “And I think we have enough experience, we have the character, we have the experience to go all the way”, he said.