Mains says....select the Boks on merit

Cats coach Laurie Mains says the Springboks’ days of being 'top competitors are over' because of the quota system.

Half of the Bok team will have to be made up of players of colour by 2019, according to SA Rugby's Strategic Transformation Plan. SA Rugby insists this is a target and not a quota system.

Mains, who coached the Cats in 2000 and 2001, says the Boks should be selected on merit as players of colour have been given enough time to develop.

'When I coached over there I could see the reason for it [a quota system],' Mains told foxsports.com.au. 'It was a genuine attempt to create opportunities for the black and coloured players and I respected that, because there hadn’t been big numbers of them.

'And the reality now is that they’ve had plenty of time to develop. The ones that are playing at the top level now are getting the advantage of what happened in the late 90s, early 2000s, when they first brought in this system at Currie Cup level.

'It no longer needs to be there, it should now revert back to the best players get selected because all of the players in South Africa in the last 15 to 18 years have had opportunity to develop.

'It should go back to straight merit selection and then we would have a world power in South Africa again.

'You can’t go on forever favouring the position of one colour against another.

'While I supported the original decision for the quota system, it’s had long enough now for it to all even out, which it has, and it should be straight-out merit selection now.'

 I completely agree with this view. I can even support a tie breaker rule....that gives close calls to players of colour. But the idea that half the Springbok team should be made up of players of colour by 2019 is not supportable.
The truth is there are many players of colour in the Sevens team....on merit. There isn't a single player of colour other than Jantjies who can claim to be best in his position for the test side. Habana, JP and the Beast were....but they aren't any more. Right now Kitshoff is way more convincing than the last of this trio....the Beast.

Players like Mapoe, Skosan and Nyakane are very close...Notche, Kolisi, Mbonambi aren't.  Nor are a host of other players of colour playing for the B team.
There is going to be no joy in pursuing this thing further....unless the real objective is simply to destroy the Springboks because the prospect of a successful team that isn't heavily tilted towards population parity is unacceptable.
Nobody is served by this grotesque idea of equality. Let's reject racism and reverse racism.

 I posted this article earlier an I share your point of view.   The problem is that the quota system is going to damage SA rugby and have a negative impact on World Rugby as well since it is bound to remove SA from the top ten ranked rugby teams in world rugby  and remove part of the competitive spirit from the table.  It is a political issue and since the ANC is beginning to feel the heat in the upcoming local government elections the racial drum is being beaten by them on a daily basis.   Since they failed in service delivery and bribery and corruption is rampant they are saying that the Black voters  should not support the party with "White Supremist" support.  It is getting worst by the day.    

Apologies, I never saw your posting. All this stuff is very troubling.

Its such an obvious call from Mains.....22 years of freedom for all and they still have the audacity to bring the quota into the equation.....its both an insult and a disgrace and effectively sums up the state of the country as a whole in terms of governing......incompetence of the highest order

 Well its great to see the plodders catching up to Beeno at last. I have called for merit selection from the very beginning.You shouldn't ever start quotas in any event at professional level!!!
You also don't in 50/50 cases automatically give it to blacks etc. rather coss a coin otherwise its racist.

 We will probably hear JW and the other kbbs lamenting this comment by Mains. After all fair play is not their game as we have seen with the get the Jarpies campaign!!
It could be that nz might have another Justin marshall in their ranks. ie 2 honest men amongst millions. bwahahahahhahahahaha
Talking about honest men I see Trum*p has cruised to a 7 point lead over crooked Hillary Hahahahahahahahahaha. For Hilla ry it's one disaster after another.

 It's good to see that some real influential rugby people from abroad are making anti-quota noises. Hansen mentioned it a few times last year and now Mains. Good on these 2 Kiwis. If the few voices can grow into a few thousands, we might see some positive change!

 Draad unfortunately when it comes to morality one cannot rely on kiwis.