Great question, Filipe.
I'm no rugby authority authority butbi did attend a strong rugby school.
Firstly, and for the most part during apartheid, Rugby was only available to primary school kids(6-13 years old) at Afrikaans schools which were white schools. English speaking schools, despite being white schools offered football and softball during the winter season. Schools for black children didn't offer much sport and only in very rare instances was rugby available.
Post-apartheid, when schools became integrated, most black kids attended English speaking schools where rugby was only available at high schools(ages 14-18).
My guess is that if more kids, of all races, started playing rugby younger then we'd see more kids of different races and languages playing rugby.
In a scenario where the majority of children are introduced to football before rugby, then it's difficult for rugby to compete, especially against the glitzy likes of Champions and UK Premier League football where players are both more famous and wealthier than pro rugby players could dream of being.
I'm a white person, so I don't know how much rugby is still seen as the sport of the oppressor by black people, but I'm guessing that it does also play some kind of role.
Then there is also the reality that black people in SA are generally smaller in stature than white people. So there are less positions truly available to play. Whether it's down to diet or genetics, I don't know...but as you have probably noticed, we rarely see very big black players coming through the ranks. Some of our better black players have been the children of parents that came here from places like Nigeria, Ghana or Zimbabwe. The natural shape/size of black people here means that they tend to play in positions where height isn't a prerequisite. Props, hookers, wingers and so forth. It's not always that way but it generally holds true that you'll rarely see locks, flankers or monstrous 8 that are not white. I guess you have a similar situation with the native people of Argentina that live further south. I take it they are also smaller in stature than Argentinians of European origin?
No doubt many here will disagree but that is my layman's take on the subject.
