A pat on the back for Straeuli

With Laurie Mains coming under pressure from sections of the Cape media for his treatment of Lawrence Sephaka, perhaps it is apt to end the week with a pat on the back for Sharks coach Rudolph Straeuli.

It is a little noticed fact, but Straeuli has actually exceeded the so-called unofficial race "quota" that got Mains into so much trouble during the 2000 Super 12. Apart from playing Ricardo Loubscher and Deon Kayser in the starting lineup, Straeuli also has another black Springbok, Etienne Fynn, on the bench.

Had he wanted to, Straeuli could easily have ignored Fynn and claimed that he was still complying with the quota. But in opting to go with three black players, he sent a clear, if unintended, message to Mains about what the drive for transformation is really about.

After speaking to Mains earlier in the week, it does seem he may be justified in suggesting that he was unfairly treated by those who attacked him for the Sephaka saga.

According to Mains, Sephaka's move to the Stormers was not as a result of him being dropped from the Cats squad. Instead, it was the result of pro-activeness on the part of the South African Rugby Football Union, who intervened when they realised that Sephaka might be better off in a franchise that did not have Springbok test incumbent Willie Meyer as first choice tighthead.

Mains said by agreeing to release Sephaka, a decision he claims he was not entirely happy with, he was just trying to further the player's career. It did not mean he was not the Cats' second choice tighthead.

I am not sure I entirely buy this explanation. Johannesburg based rugby writers tell me that Sephaka battled in scrumming sessions during training and was palpably not up to it. At least not at tighthead.

Had Sephaka remained with the Cats, it may well have been as a loosehead, where Mains is believed to feel he had a better chance of making it in the long run. Former Border and Western Province under-21 prop Heinrich Kok might be a little easier to dislodge than Meyer.

But Mains should be excused on this score. If a prop is battling, then it would be irresponsible to push him to a level that he is not ready for. Front-row is one area where a player who is out of his depth can sustain serious injuries.

And while Sephaka did impress at times on the overseas tour, it needs to be noted that it was always as a replacement, and never as a starter. On those occasions he did start, the former Falcon battled.

Maybe it is better for him to be at the Stormers, where there are fewer quality props standing in his way. At least he might get the odd Super 12 appearance as a "super-sub", and thus build up his experience in that way. That is what Ian McIntosh did with Fynn at the Sharks in the latter part of the 1990s, and he has developed into a useful Super 12 class prop as a result.

Where I do take issue with Mains, is with the way he defended his stance on Boots and All last Tuesday. Sorry, but in this day and age it is not a defence to say that "we already have five quota players in our squad", just as it is not a defence to say that Conrad Jantjes is not playing because he needs to come back from injury through the Vodacom Cup.

Why isn't that criterion then applied to someone like Japie Mulder, who regularly comes straight back into Lions and Cats teams after he is injured. As Straeuli has shown, the coaches should not be thinking in terms of quotas.

And when there is a black prop of ability around, a rare commodity in our rugby, then he should certainly not be held back on the basis that the squad already has a smattering of black loose-forwards and flankers.

As a foreigner, maybe he cannot be blamed, but Mains does miss the point of the transformation process when he forwards this sort of argument. So do the other coaches who do so, for Mains is surely not alone. For instance, Stormers coach Alan Solomons has two black players in his starting lineup for the clash with the Cats. But one of those is that little footballing maestro, Breyton Paulse.

As the Stormers region has more black talent than any other region, it should be incumbent upon them to take the lead in showcasing South Africa's resource base.

Presumably Solomons opted for Robert Markram on the bench ahead of John Daniels because Markram can play fullback and hence can slot in for Percy Montgomery if he is injured. But can't Pieter Rossouw also do that? What about Paulse, who has played several games in the No15 jersey.

A Junior Springbok some years back, Daniels is a pacy winger who is crying out for greater exposure at Super 12 level. On those occasions he has been given game time, he has invariably underlined his competence as a finisher. The fact they had already satisfied the "quota" requirement was no good reason for the Stormers to ignore Daniels, who was a regular presence on the bench before the emergence of lock Quinton Davids.

Straeuli was criticised by this pen last year for conforming to a white South African coaching mentality of not selecting black players to decision making positions. I had Kayser, who although perenially selected on the wing had just created a try with a brilliant break from the centre position in a match against WP, in mind when I wrote the article.

Natal's Keith Parkinson then phoned me to point out that Natal (Sharks) actually had more black players in their side than WP (Stormers). Looking at the latest team sheets, it seems they still do. Now that Straeuli has both moved Kayser to centre and exceeded the quota without being asked to, it does appear the Durbanites are showing the rest of the country a thing or two.