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Crisis ahead as South African teams fail to meet 'racial quotas' - warns rugby chief

Clayton Blommetjies /Getty

South African Rugby president Mark Alexander has warned the sport could face a player crisis unless the lack of transformation at provincial level is addressed after only three unions managed to achieve the set targets last season.

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Alexander’s warning comes against a backdrop of leading players opting out of domestic rugby in South Africa to take up contracts with clubs in Europe and Japan.

According to a report on IOL, the majority of the local franchises and provinces who participated in last year’s Super Rugby, PRO14, Super Rugby Unlocked and Currie Cup had failed to achieve the set 45 per cent representation for ‘generic black’ players and 22 per cent for ‘black African’ players; with only the KwaZulu-Natal and Western Province Rugby Unions reaching the generic black target and only KZN and Eastern Province exceeding black African target.

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In a new series of short films, RugbyPass shares unique stories from iconic British and Irish Lions tours to South Africa in proud partnership with The Famous Grouse, the Spirit of Rugby.

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      In a new series of short films, RugbyPass shares unique stories from iconic British and Irish Lions tours to South Africa in proud partnership with The Famous Grouse, the Spirit of Rugby.

      In the SA Rugby annual report tabled this week, Alexander said: ‘‘If the statistics are correct, we have a shrinking coloured and white player base in our country, and if we fail to attract the rest of the population group­ings to our sport, we will have a small pool of players on which to draw.

      “When the success of transformation is determined by budget allocation, one must, unfortunately, ask the question whether it is a symp­tom of a system that has not changed at its core.

      “Transformation asks for our busi­ness to be done differently; it is a process of fundamentally restructuring the very basis of our business with different priorities, and the reallocation of current resources that will con­tribute to a conscious, deliber­ate, planned, and goal-directed change with the sustainable growth of rugby being at the heart of it.

      “The enabler is not necessarily more money, but rather how we differently use the monetary re­sources that we have, smarter and more effectively,” stated Alexander.

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      R
      RedWarrior 4 minutes ago
      Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss

      The English defense was excellent in the first half. This is considering Ireland's attack has improved significantly since the Autumn with former Leinster attack coach Goodman. Ireland were beaten by NZ in the Autumn, are behind SA and arguably behind France so de facto 4th in order (rankings take time to catch up) As Eddie Jones said Ireland are still in that elite group so England's domination in the first half is noteworthy.

      I believe they have spent the time since the Autumn largely on defence. On broken play they were relying on Smiths instint along with some jiggery pokery. For Smiths early line break a Twindaloo blocked Baird which left the gap for smith. It looked like he did Aki, but Baird was a little late arriving and clever play by Tom Curry allowed the gap for Smith. Earls line break was Smith spotting Baird coming out and beating him with a beautiful pass to Earl.

      We saw the rehearsed plays for a couple of Ireland's tries. The Aki try was just identifying that England tended to hide Smith on the wing creating a vulnerability which Ireland exploited with one of Akis great finishes.

      Although Ireland were relaxing at the end the two English tries were good enough quality and we may see more of it next week (Scotland will also have taken note).

      Although on the easier side of the draw Borthwick almost took England to a RWC final.

      But in common with the top4 you need to have firepower to get those tries in big games. Can Borthwick manage that? I don't think so.

      Next week even if England have a great first half again, you would be looking at France converting 3 of those Irish chances and pushing on after the break.

      Can Borthwick develop a plan to beat France in the next few years. If the answer is no England need to find someone who can.

      9 Go to comments
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      LONG READ Ireland are Six Nations favourites but issues are starting to mount Ireland are Six Nations favourites but issues are starting to mount
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