Twenty years after then-President Nelson Mandela wore a Springbok jersey to promote racial reconciliation, many South Africans "are not convinced the 2015 Rugby World Cup squad has shed its reputation as a bastion of white privilege," according to Wendell Roelf of REUTERS. Louis Mzomba, a veteran rugby administrator who coaches rugby in black townships, said, "South African rugby has lost the opportunity to transform. In 1995 everyone, black, white, pink or whatever, was behind the Springbok, but now we have gone backwards." Coach Heyneke Meyer named nine non-white players out of a squad of 31, "still far short of the target of 50 percent that administrators have set for themselves to achieve within four years." Meyer's predecessor Peter de Villiers, the first and so far only non-white Springbok coach, said that "some of the country's best-performing players were black, but were not being given a chance to shine." He said, "You can have the best Ferrari, but if there is a roadblock and road works, you can’t go any further until you remove it." Criticism "intensified in recent weeks after South Africa fielded a mainly white team against Argentina at home on Aug. 8, only to lose 37-25." A week later, the Springboks "included more black players for a follow-up match in Buenos Aires, and won 26-12." A declaration from trade union federation Cosatu said, "We want the black players who are in the squad to get game time, not only be bag carriers." Since the end of white rule in '94, "blacks have been drawn into the sport in ever larger numbers, but their presence in junior amateur ranks has not yet translated into game time at the national level." Some critics said that "coaches still rely too much on the formal tactics developed in white-only teams during the apartheid years, and overlook the contributions that can come from more individualistic styles developed by some emerging black players." A rugby agent who represents black players said, "A lot of South African coaches are still playing an old school mentality of rugby where we are very formal in the way we play and the black players are a lot more exuberant and extravagant in playing the game" (REUTERS, 8/31).
