Trade union organisation Cosatu has called for Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer to be fired following what it termed \u201cracist choices\u201d and the spate of losses suffered by the team in the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n
This came a day after Cosatu revealed that five black Springbok players approached it alleging they were being left out of the starting line-up by Meyer because of the colour of their skin.<\/p>\n
Cosatu has withheld the names of the five black players plus those of two white ones\u201a who were also said to be disgruntled about the slow pace of transformation in elite rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the coach removed and a more representative team selected that represents all the people of South Africa\u201a\u201d Cosatu said in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Cosatu\u2019s Western Cape Secretary General Tony Ehrenreich said it would approach the South African Rugby Union [Saru] and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula about the matter before the start of next month\u2019s Rugby World Cup in the UK.<\/p>\n
Mbalula\u201a who has been championing a \u201cTransformation Charter\u201d in sport\u201a declined to comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been ongoing discussions regarding transformation in rugby with many players and roleplayers in rugby for a while now and we\u2019ve raised the issue before\u201a\u201d said Ehrenreich.<\/p>\n
\u201cA number of the in-form players at the moment are black players. The best-mixed team this year was the one that performed the best in the Super 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can anybody justify Jean de Villiers running onto the team when he hasn\u2019t even played himself fit to be able to play at the highest level?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way Meyer handled it last Saturday was to bring people on two minutes before fulltime; that was complete window-dressing and it was unacceptable. That has brought the matter to a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meyer was widely criticised for dropping winger Cornal Hendricks and excluding fellow specialist Lwazi Mvovo\u201a and opting to play 21-year-old rookie Jesse Kriel in an uncomfortably unfamiliar position.<\/p>\n
The nadir came when Kriel\u2019s opposite number\u201a Juan Imhoff\u201a scored a hat-trick of tries as Argentina beat the Springboks for the first time in 20 meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he would prefer to play Jean de Villiers over an in-form player and plays players out of position so that the white players can play and keeps black players out\u201a then clearly something\u2019s seriously wrong\u201a\u201d Ehrenreich said.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine if the team was performing as badly as it is now under previous coach [Peter] de Villiers. You would have heard a groundswell of people saying he must be removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the coach does not perform\u201a then clearly he is not suitable for the job. And now there is a discussion about extending his contract. How can you commit to extending his contract before he delivered the good at the World Cup?<\/p>\n
\u201cHis contract should not be extended\u2026the coach appears to be completely at sea with what he is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Saru spokesperson told Times Media: \u201cSaru recently signed an MOU [memorandum of understanding] with government and Sascoc [South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee] on a strategic transformation plan for rugby. Our focus now is on delivering on our understanding with them and we will continue to engage with sports leadership in the country on our progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
The South African Rugby Players\u2019 Association said they were unaware of the issues raised by the anonymous black players.<\/p>\n
Its spokesperson Nyaniso Sam said: \u201cNone of our members came to us and they never raised these concerns with us \u2026 we don\u2019t know if players even approached Cosatu \u2014 we are gobsmacked. The union is not saying who these players are either. The players have the option of coming to us because this is their organisation.\u201d \u2013 The Times<\/p>\n
Source: RDM News Wire.<\/p>\n