Any news on the next Bok coach?

South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins has left little doubt that it was the transformation imperatives of his organisation that prompted Heyneke Meyer to change his mind about being part of the solution to the problems faced by the Springbok squad he coached at the World Cup.

Speaking at a media briefing at the Saru headquarters just outside Cape Town at lunch time on Friday, Hoskins made it clear that Meyer had not been meeting the requirements and that after discussions between the parties, it had become apparent that there would be no way forward for them.

“The upper leadership met with Heyneke a few weeks ago and it was a very fruitful discussion,” said Hoskins.

“But after those talks, the decision (made by Meyer to resign) did not come as a surprise. We discussed a number of issues, one of them being our transformation imperatives. We had an open and frank discussion on that issue because, for me, it was an important issue.

“In the next four years in the buildup to the next World Cup, transformation will be key for this organisation, and it’s something we’re discussing all the time. We have a duty to meet the transformation imperatives that we have signed off for with the Sports Ministry and that we’ve agreed to.

“From a Saru perspective, we have to be pretty emphatic about the importance of transformation, and we were in the meeting with Heyneke. Heyneke understood that, and he knew what the transformation imperatives were.”

Saru has committed to an agreement that will aim to ensure the rate of transformation is accelerated so that the Springbok team can be made up of an equal representation of white and black players in 2019.

Hoskins said that his job would be on the line if the objectives aren’t met, but stressed that the various provincial and franchise presidents had to play ball too.

“Jake White said it, Peter de Villiers said it, and now Heyneke has also said it – there just aren’t enough black players getting an opportunity in Super Rugby that we can select from and that player pool really needs to be increased now as this is our last chance. We have reached the glass ceiling and we need now to push through that ceiling,” he said.

“If we don’t get it right there will be calls for me to walk the plank, and I will do that, but then I would expect the provincial presidents to be right behind me as the transformation process really needs to be sped up at our bigger provinces, particularly at franchise level.”

Hoskins made it plain that any coach applying for the Springbok job would have to accept the Saru transformation objectives.

“Transformation is a dynamic thing and whoever applies for the job must know it has to be top of his agenda,” said Hoskins.

“As an organisation we have to be harder than we’ve ever been before and lay a huge emphasis on that. We’ve signed an agreement, we believe in it and we have to go forward with that in mind. If anyone wants to be coach, they have to understand that transformation is going to be a big part of the job.”

However it appears that winning will also remain a top objective, with Hoskins admitting that the failure to win the World Cup was also a blot on Meyer’s copy book that helped hasten his departure from the position he has held for the last four years.

“We’re South African and we believe that anything less than winning the World Cup amounts to failure,” he said.

Once the new man is in place, and you can bet your house on the new coach being Allister Coetzee even if Hoskins denied any decision had been made on the replacement for Meyer, he will start off without the threat of any interference in his selections from Saru.

“When Peter de Villiers became Bok coach we adopted a policy of non-interference in team selection. We did not try and interfere with Heyneke Meyer. We adopted the line that once we appoint the coach we trust him to do what is best for the team and the organisation,” said Hoskins.

“That is the situation as it stands at the moment. There will be no interference in selections. However, should we face a problematic situation that policy can be reviewed, but we will cross that bridge if we come to it.”

Spot on Athur John.

We do not need any transformation - just get the racists out of SARU. Hoskins will be a good start.

Try and promote the game as far as possible with special emphasis on school teams.

Invite promising black players to join a Rugby Academy.

Enforced transformation boils down to BEE - i.e legalise theft.