Touring class

Jake White’s decision to take the little known Meyer Bosman on tour yet again draws attention to the fact that current playing structure is not to the benefit of Springbok rugby.

White, and remember he was the man who had the belief and foresight to pluck Bryan Habana out of obscurity a little more than a year ago, clearly believes Bosman, a three-quarter in the mould of Henry Honiball, could do a job for him.

But he has no choice but to take the youngster, scorer of the winning try in the Currie Cup Final, on a full Springbok tour and he might well have to play him in a test to see whether he has what it takes.

Yet again this shows the folly of rugby administrators agreeing to the elongated Super 14 as well as an extended Tri-Nations.

I said it while this structure was under discussion and I said it when it was agreed to – it is wrong for South African rugby.

What should have happened is that South Africa held out for a return to the Super 10 and for a drastic reduction in the Tri-Nations.

Officials were under pressure to provide more “product” in exchange for the massive television rights revenues that underpin the game but a better solution would have been to streamline a situation in which we already play the All Blacks and the Wallabies too often by re-introducing touring.

We could, for instance, have played the Tri-Nations in the middle years between the World Cups and then had tours, between the three Sanzar partners, in the gap years.

Tours would not only have provided interesting variety – remember when the match against the Bulls at Loftus used to be called the “fifth test”? – but would have provided an important testing ground, a nursery that is now absent, for young players.

In this situation White would not have to be taking a chance on Bosman, and perhaps even gifting him Springbok colours, but would have been able to weigh him in the green-and-gold to see whether he is up to it – and I can tell you there are not many tougher tests of a player’s mettle than a midweek game in New Zealand!

Instead of White being forced to examine the qualities of a potential Springbok in an international he would have had with him an array of up-and-comers to learn about touring, to experience foreign conditions and to show whether they have that extra quality that makes a good test player.

Right now, for instance, South Africa is blessed with exceptional talent but only a few can get into the Springbok side as White tries to introduce some consistency instead of the musical chairs mish-mash of a few years ago.

It took me no more than a couple of minutes to come up with this “second” Bok team – made up entirely of players who have not previously been capped.

1 Pietman van Niekerk (Lions), 2 Schalk Brits (Lions/WP), 3 Jannie du Plessis (Cheetahs), 4 Francois van Schouwenburg (Blue Bulls), 5 Barend Pieterse (Cheetahs), 6 Derick Kuun (Blue Bulls), 7 Gerhard Vosloo (Lions), 8 Cobus Grobbelaar (Lions), 9 Paul Delport (WP), 10 Morné Steyn (Blue Bulls), 11 Rayno Benjamin (Boland Cavaliers), 12 Wynand Olivier (Blue Bulls), 13 JP Nel (Blue Bulls), 14 Akona Ndungane (Blue Bulls), 15 Johan Roets (Blue Bulls).

Reserves: 16 Chilliboy Ralepelle (Blue Bulls), 17 Wian du Preez (Cheetahs), 18 Trevor Hall (Lions), 19 Hylton Lobberts (Blue Bulls), 20 Ruan Pienaar (Sharks), 21 Willem de Waal (Cheetahs), 22 Bevin Fortuin (Cheetahs).

Apart from this “team” there are also the like of Jongi Nokwe, Earl Rose, Zhahier Rylands, JP Pietersen, Thabang Molefe, Johan Muller, Ronnie Cooke and any number of under 21s and under 19s waiting in the wings but no mechanism to look at them at a higher level.

In fact, the idea of touring and playing midweek games is such a good one that perhaps SA Rugby should dip into the coffers to arrange additional matches on the tours we are going on – for instance the “dirt trackers” could have played a Buenos Aires XV in Argentina, a Premiership club in England and one of the big clubs, or the Barbarians, in France… and Jake White would not have had to take a chance on Meyer Bosman.