How the Springboks will win World Cup

SA Rugby and the Springbok management held a series of media workshops over the past weekend in which they communicated their policies and goals for the World Cup year to the people who act as the interface between themselves and the public.

As World Cup years tend to be more controversial than most owing to the intense media focus on the sport, and communication or miscommunication has often in the past helped fuel these controversies, it was probably a good idea for the main role players to put everything down in black and white.

At least this time the Springboks and the rugby bosses cannot be accused of lacking transparency. Weekend newspapers covered aspects of the workshop, many of them under front-page banner headlines, but here is the basic plan and the year ahead point by point.

* Player identification is key and Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli will do everything he can to make sure the best possible team is selected for the World Cup. And yes, that includes looking at players that are currently campaigning overseas. Straeuli has confirmed that he IS talking to a number of South Africans based in England as well as certain players who have recently retired.

Robbie Kempson is one of the former, we know that Andre Venter is one of the latter. If Straeuli decides his team need Mark Andrews, he will be spoken to too, if he has not been already. There is only one proviso for players who want to return to play in the World Cup: They have to play in one of SA Rugby's competitions in order to be considered eligible.

This is a SARFU regulation and as Riaan Oberholzer pointed out, it must be adhered to. There is a precedent for this: In 1999 Fritz van Heerden went to the World Cup after returning from England to play for Western Province in the Currie Cup and it was the same for Free Staters Jannie de Beer and Brendan Venter.

* There is to be a bigger than normal focus on discipline this year and players who lack in this regard will be excluded from World Cup consideration. Straeuli had harsh words with several players who he considered to be guilty of overstepping the mark on the recent overseas tour.

Some of these players were slapped with heavy fines and some have paid for indiscretions by being excluded from the contracted squad. All players have been reminded that indiscipline, which includes foul play as well dirty play, could cost South Africa the World Cup.

* There is no official quota governing how many black players Straeuli must select in his World Cup squad. However, this must be seen in context and definitely does not mean that an all-white or nearly all-white squad will be tolerated.

When Straeuli talks of there being no quota he is doing so from the viewpoint that there are sufficient black players in the country who will make the squad on merit and the current Super 12 structures make it possible to ensure that this is the case. Needless to say, the process of unearthing and developing talented black players will be as aggressive as ever.

* The selection panel has been expanded to include the four Super 12 coaches. Together with Straeuli and the two national selectors who made up the previous panel, Wynand Claassen and Francois Davids, this brings the number of selectors to seven. However, this does not mean a return to the confusion that tripped up Ian McIntosh in his stint as national coach. As was the case last year, Straeuli will have the final say.

The big positive here is that he will now have people working with him who have an intimate knowledge of the players falling into the reservoir of talent that he will draw from. They (Super 12 coaches) in turn will have a better idea of what Straeuli requires.

* The members of the selection panel will select a national team of 22 players and forward it to Straeuli on the Monday following each round of the Super 12. This in essence means there will be an ongoing official Bok barometre. A standardized assessment and criteria template relative to squad selection is being designed and will be in operation at the outset of the Super 12.

* The current nine members of the Springbok management will be swelled to 12 for the World Cup. Straeuli did not say who would make up the extra three places, but he did suggest that some of the current Super 12 coaches, now contracted to SA Rugby, will find themselves on his management team.

He also said there might be a need for specialist coaches such as kicking or defensive experts. But it is important to note that he did not rule out any possibilities and coaches from outside the country would be considered if it was in the interests of the Springbok team.

* A technical committee will be appointed to help Straeuli. Eight members will join Straeuli and assistant coach Tim Lane and they will watch and study the 11 relevant teams South Africa will and could oppose in the World Cup. Two sets of eyes will study and analyse each of Ireland, Argentina, Scotland, Wales, Georgia, Samoa and Uruguay, while four sets of eyes will study the big four of England, New Zealand, France and Australia.

Each individual on the committee will look at team patterns, trends, playing styles and at individual strengths and weaknesses and they will submit a monthly report on that particular team between February and September.

* The Boks will continue to draw heavily on the expertise of local top rated referees. Apart from continuing the process of educating the players on refereeing interpretations, each international referee's strengths, weaknesses, personality and style of application will be discussed with the team.

* A World Cup squad of 45 will assemble in Cape Town for an eight deay camp at the Saldahna Naval Base in August. The emphasis of the camp will be mental conditioning and fitness.

* The 30-man World Cup squad will be announced in Cape Town on September 1 and they will reassemble in Durban for an eight day camp. A warmup match will be played in East London on September 16 and another in Potchefstroom on September 23. A nine day camp will be held in Pretoria from September 21 and the squad will depart for Perth on October 5.