Cricketers showed Boks there is hope

The postponement to the race investigation is far from ideal. Already this morning radio presenters have been heard calling it a cop-out and I don't disagree with them.

It is also understandable, despite appeals to the contrary from Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour, that many people are saying they cannot support the Springboks until they have been proved to be squeaky clean.

In my last column, it was argued that there must be full disclosure before the World Cup so that the Boks can go to the tournament with the country behind them. In 1995 the slogan was "One Team, One Country", this time there would be a compelling argument to change it to "Divided Team, Divided Nation".

And there is much sense in a comment made by commentator Andy Colquhoun: "This is all really weird. A few days ago they (the management) were adamant that it didn't happen, now they are apologising for that thing that didn't happen".

Whichever way you look at it, the apology from Rudolf Straeuli and Gideon Sam does appear to vindicate those who brought the allegations.

Mark Keohane has given away his job and his ridiculously large salary, but both he and Rian Oberholzer, who was so villified by the media just 10 days ago, will live to fight another day with their own integrity intact.

So too, thanks to his apology, will Straeuli. As I wrote the other day, nowhere in the Keohane report was Straeuli specifically accused of racism.

As was suggested long before Keohane came out and started to spill the beans, and even before he had spoken to me about the events, Straeuli could have saved himself a lot of problems had he just taken the same line towards Geo Cronjé that he did towards Lukas van Biljon.

In other words, suspend him from the squad with immediate effect pending an investigation.

By not taking immediate action, he was seen to be condoning something that he himself now admits had "connotations of racism".

Straeuli's omission was serious enough in my opinion to lose him his job, and that will probably still happen after the World Cup.

Anyway, I have long ago said my piece on that. It is time to move on, and the debate can be reopened in January, when what is to now be a full blown judicial commission will be convened.

Much of the anger of the present, and the intrigue too, may have died down by then. For a start, Straeuli may by then have been relieved of his position as Bok coach, Sam might be working elsewhere, Corné Krige will almost certainly be playing for Bath in England, and senior player Joost van der Westhuizen will be freshly retired and training for the Comrades Marathon.

But it will probably at least give us a better chance of learning the full truth.

My own sources in the Springbok camp have consistently said that they will tell the truth, but only after the World Cup has been completed.

In the meantime, it should be possible for the broader population to support the team as a full reading of the allegations will disclose that the Boks are not travelling to the World Cup as "a team of racists", which is what one fellow journalist has suggested.

There was only one player specifically fingered for overt racism in the Koehane report, and he happens to be out of the squad. So where is the problem?

Yet it is going to be an uphill task trying to get it through to the overseas media that the whole team should not be blanketed as racists. And make no mistake, the challenge posed by the overseas hacks, particularly those from England and Australia, might be an even more challenging one than that posed by Martin Johnson's men.

Of course many will disagree with me, but dealing with the international media is going to be much more difficult without Keohane on board.

There were many occasions in the past 18 months where Straueli got himself out of a potential hole by taking advice from Keohane on what to say. The press conferences overseas are going to be filled with pitfalls and every one is going to be a potential time bomb for Springbok and South African rugby.

But Keohane is gone, and it would be ridiculous to even suggest that he should return to the squad after the shenanigans of the past two weeks.

My suggestion to the Bok team is to use the success story of another major South African sporting team as an instruction manual of how to turn it around.

Rugby is my job but over the past few months cricket has again become my passion. I found it almost impossible to get myself away from the television screen during test series against England, with my work productivity often suffering when a test match was on.

This was due as much to the new open attitude that the players appear to have taken on since Graeme Smith took over as it was to the type of cricket the team played.

Michael Atherton's comments at the conclusion of the last test, when he said that the South Africans "have been great ambassadors for their country", made me proud.

It did appear to be that way, and one of the joys of the series was that it seemed to reintroduce old-fashioned values.

When Smith took over I was less than delighted as I have always been a great fan of Shaun Pollock. But he emphatically erased any lingering doubts and his charm offensive won many friends and buried the South African reputation for being dour, unfriendly and far too serious.

If you consider where South African cricket was just a few short months ago, following the early exit from the World Cup, it becomes entirely possible to see a glimmer of hope for the Boks.

All it needs is for them to kiss the laager mentality goodbye, for the coach to treat all media with equal respect and maybe give greater vent to the great albeit dry sense of humour that I know he has, and the Boks can take the first steps at this World Cup to turning the mess around.

The inevitable fatigue, both physical and mental, of the final test in a long tour may have robbed them of the chance to return home victorious, but Graeme Smith and his Proteas have shown the Boks how it should be done.