Eddie should have a blazer too

The recent appointment of Eddie Jones as the Springbok technical advisor was a pleasing indication that perhaps finally South African rugby is losing some of the xenophobia that has at times kept this country from moving forward.

Former Bok centre and acknowledged local rugby guru Brendan Venter is one who has lauded the strides that the Boks are already making since Jones became involved with the national team. He reckons that this is the most organised and structured the South Africans have been for several years, and he saw evidence in the warm-up games of innovation at the back that wasn’t there before.

Venter praised Bok coach Jake White for being big enough to seek outside advice and first recruit someone like Rassie Erasmus before Erasmus’s appointment to the Stormers job left a gap for former Wallaby coach Jones to join the Bok management team. Indeed, White’s eagerness to go outside the inner-sanctum to widen his rugby knowledge has been one of his strong points as Bok coach.

It would not be inaccurate to say that should the Boks lift the Webb Ellis Cup here in Paris on 20 October, Jones, who has coached a team to a World Cup final before and has a wealth of experience to impart, would have played a significant role in that victory. The players have spoken highly of his input and the new ideas he has brought with him.

But there is one big problem I can foresee: The man who played such an integral part in the triumph may just be, as he was in the recent victory in a warm-up test against Scotland in Edinburgh, be distinguishable from the rest of the Bok management by the clothing he will be wearing.

Sources close to the Bok camp have confirmed that Jones is not wearing a Bok blazer as per request from the South African Rugby Union President’s Council. This is not difficult to imagine, for in the days after White confirmed his approach to Jones, some influential members of the press seemed appalled at the possibility of the hated former enemy wearing a Bok blazer.

This though is complete nonsense if Jones is committed to the cause, as he undeniably is, and he is officially working for the Boks, which he is. I am not sure that Jones particularly cares, and is probably quite happy to pitch up at Bok test matches dressed in an alternative suit to the rest of the management, but it reflects badly on the SA rugby hierarchy that they can make such a silly request.

This is the professional age in rugby, and when a person is recruited, either as a player or a management member, to work for you, then surely he becomes one of you and is entitled to feel that he belongs?

If the baggage master gets to wear a Springbok blazer, if the media liaison gets to wear the colours, then surely the technical advisor, a man around whom so much revolves, should be entitled to do so too. If Jones is not wearing a Springbok blazer during this tournament, it says something about South African rugby: It says we remain blighted by our childishness and are still battling to grow up.