Merit with bias was a phrase SA rugby became used to in the late 1990s as Springbok coaches and selectors struggled to meet transformation requirements, and maybe it’s time we became reacquainted with it.
No, this is not a revisit to how it was applied then, when it related to the idea that if you had a black player and white player of relatively equal ability, the black player would be selected. Instead, in its modern application, “merit with bias” should be adopted as part of the selection policy for Bok coaches relating to overseas-based players. Which, by way of the best example, would mean that if you have the Stormers’ Evan Roos or the Bulls’ Elrigh Louw available to you at No 8, you should not be selecting the Leicester Tigers’ Jasper Wiese.
Last year national director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and national coach Jacques Nienaber had an excuse to load the Bok squad with overseas-based players. The SA Covid-19 lockdown was particularly harsh and when the British Lions arrived last June, this country’s franchise teams had not played against any foreign opposition since mid-March 2020 — a period of 15 months.
The interminable diet of derby matches played during isolation had not generated much excitement and it is hard to gauge the readiness of players to shape against international teams when they are playing only against teams and opponents they know.
Not much fuss was thus created when Nienaber called up Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Rynhardt Elstadt and Wiese from the foreign leagues when it felt like there were players here who should have been pushed. Those are just the three selections that spring to mind that should perhaps have been more contentious than they were.
Embarrassing margins
Roos had just started out on his senior rugby journey this time last year, and though Louw had played a season for the Southern Kings in the Pro14 and shown promise, he too was still unknown and untried against top opposition.
The Rainbow Cup final in Treviso as well as the Lions tour matches backed up Nienaber’s selection approach. No SA franchise came close to the British Lions; they were beaten by embarrassing margins. Though due to a Covid-19 outbreak they didn’t play the top local team, the Bulls, the Lions tour results created a negative view of the quality of our franchise rugby.
Roll the clock forward nine months and much has changed. While the SA teams struggled in Europe in the initial stages of the United Rugby Championship last September, they have taken a sharp upward curve in their performance trajectory since then. There has been only one loss by a local team in 12 cross-hemisphere matches on SA soil.
Now that the Six Nations players are back in action for the visiting clubs, the games have become meaningful again for the purposes of selecting Springboks. Perhaps there should be a concerted drive to educate the local rugby public about the history of the northern teams, for those who use the phrase “Ulster pushed the Stormers close” don’t know just how good Ulster are.
Yes, Ulster outplayed the Stormers for much of the Cape Town game, and the Stormers coaches will readily admit it was a learning experience for them as Ulster were a step up from previous opponents. But any win over Ulster, anywhere, is a big achievement. Beating them will have been an experience that will grow the Stormers players, just like it will the Bulls players if they get a similar result at Loftus on Saturday.
Telling point
Duane Vermeulen, who is a world-class and established international and must therefore play for the Boks regardless of where he is based, was hugely influential in the Ulster fightback from an early 14-0 deficit in Cape Town. He nearly turned the game for his adopted team in the final minutes. But his direct opponent, Roos, won the Man of the Match award and deservedly so for his efforts not just against the Bok first choice, but against an international-studded visiting team.
Louw didn’t play this weekend due to a Covid-19 issue but hopefully he will next week, and don’t bet against him also making a telling point. It was great to have fans back in numbers at the weekend, but it wasn’t the kind of turnout that contradicts my view that local professional rugby should resell itself.
The quality of rugby produced by the local sides at the weekend was good, but what you need to get bums on seats is star players. Having them visit you wearing the No 8 jersey of the opposition is not really the same thing as having them play for you.
Adopting a merit with bias approach, and being public with it, will send the message to promising players that while it is possible to be selected to the Boks if you are based overseas, it’s much harder than it would be if you were playing for an SA team.
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