Zeena Isaacs
12 November 2009
opinion
Johannesburg — I DON'T know who deserves the tonsil of the month award more, the wise men who decided to include an injured Chiliboy Ralepelle in the Springbok team to face Leicester or the government's delayed reaction to questioning Tendai Mtawarira's inclusion.
This special bunch of people did themselves no favours by making some of the dumbest decisions of the year.
In terms of Ralepelle, what in the world possessed a group of professionals to select an injured player as the captain of the dirt- trackers' team, knowing that he was declared unfit by the Blue Bulls for the Currie Cup final only a week earlier?
There is no doubt that if Bulls coach Frans Ludeke had a choice between selecting a fit Ralepelle or third-choice hooker Bandise Maku, he would have jumped at selecting the Springbok for the final.
Yet the wise Springbok management members decided Ralepelle could do the job against Leicester.
Were they so desperate to make a statement by having a black captain that they completely forgot that a stress fracture is not an injury that can be strapped up and wished away on the field? It boggles the mind how a group of professional coaches and medical staff could be so clueless as to believe that the player would play through the full 80 minutes and still be available for the rest of the European tour.
Ralepelle's absence for the last 60 minutes may not have influenced the result, as Leicester would have smacked the team anyway with their powerful scrum, their commitment at the breakdowns and solid defence. But having a captain to lift the guys' spirits and keep them motivated while their scrum was being demolished would have helped.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers this week made no secret of the fact that lack of leadership was one of the biggest problems in the Leicester clash -- something he and his management team hopefully learned a lesson from.
The chops at the Sports Ministry were equally feebleminded in their decision to question Mtawarira's inclusion in terms of clause 6(3) of the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Act of 2007 in the selection of Mtawarira -- a Zimbabwean -- in the Bok touring squad in a move that was clearly an attempt to show rugby's bosses they are playing big brother.
The clause states that the sports bodies have to explain the selection of non-South African nationals over their local counterparts to the sports minister if requested.
The joke is that Mtawarira made his Test debut in June last year and already has 19 caps. He is a key player in the Bok starting XV and his selection is based purely on merit, yet the ministry felt the need to question his inclusion in the national squad.
Unlike scrumhalf Ricky Januarie, who was included in the squad in the p ast few years despite failing to make Western Province's starting XV due to his poor form, Mtawarira deserves to be there.
What makes the situation even more ironic is the fact that the government has been adamant since before the 2007 Rugby World Cup that more black players should be selected for the national squad -- and preferably ethnic black.
I'm willing to bet that if a white player had been selected above Mtawarira in the touring squad, that would undoubtedly have been a problem too.
I would not be surprised if these selfsame government officials were rejoicing with the rest of the country when Mtawarira destroyed veteran English prop Phil Vickery in the scrums in the Test series against the British and Irish Lions.
It is time the government gets its priorities straight and focuses on the sporting codes that deserve attention, rather than causing disruptions in sports where things are functioning smoothly.
The Springboks are on the verge of one of their best years in history outside of a World Cup year. Trying to change things in the Bok team should be the last thing the government is thinking about.
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