Golden Lions question SA Schools selection
Explanation to be sought
Andy Turner, the CEO of the Golden Lions RFU, is to ask South African Rugby to explain the selection of the South African Schools side.
The Golden Lions were quite the strongest team at the Craven Week. They played the prestige final match against Eastern Province on Saturday and won 38-15, a remarkably big win for the final match of the tournament.
The South African Schools side has five players from Eastern Province and one from the Golden Lions, lock Giant Nkosi.
In the television programme Allout Rugby, Kobus Wiese, the former Springbok lock and now a television personality, described the team as the "joke of the week".
Turner has been in touch with South African Rugby's CEO, Johan Prinsloo, and is preparing a letter asking for an explanation. He told this website that he had received 47 calls by Monday from parents, press and his directors to find out what was going on.
He said: "I want to know how I explain the selection to the coaches and the players and also to my board of directors.
"We'd like to know if players can expected to be rewarded for the quality of their play or if performance doe snot matter."
He also said that Ian McIntosh had expressed his surprise at the selections.
Turner said: "How can we just have one guy in the SA Schools team, while Byron Godfrey, Johan van Rensburg, Ghaliel Markus and Johan van Deventer played brilliant rugby the entire week?
"How do I explain to the parents and their children that they had not been selected, although the players know they were among the best the entire week?"
Prinsloo has confirmed that Turner had contacted him and that SA Rugby would be "following the correct procedure".
The SA Schools selectors are Ronald Bantom (Western Province) (convener), Denis Carelse (South Western Districts), Heinkie Green (Boland), Kevin Smith (KwaZulu Natal) and Dries van der Wal (Free State).
Bantom said that he understood the Golden Lions' disappointment. "They played good rugby as a team, but we compare individuals and not teams."
"We chose the best players within the given framework," he added.
The framework for both the SA Schools and the SA Academy teams is an 11-11 quota system.
Even within that quota system, there is room for debate – Ghaliel Markus vs Christopher Juries, Conrad Britz vs either of the Golden Lions flanks, who were outstanding during the week and the spark that fired their side's success, Morné Jooste, the son of selector Peter Jooste, vs Dabeon Draghoender or Senzo Sibiya, and Christopher Micklewood vs Byron Godfrey.
Bantom also said: "The selectors discussed and debated the performance of players into the small hours every day. Our decision was unanimous and Peter (Jooste, convener of the national team) and Ian (McIntosh) were also involved.
"They were satisfied with the process and said they would explain to SA Rugby that the selection process had been just and fair."
The team was selected before the end of the final match and handed to Andy Capistagno, who was doing the television commentary on the match. He, tantalisingly, released a few of the names as the match went on.
In his programme Wiese said that selections such as these were the reason for many young players giving up the game or seeking playing opportunities abroad.
Naturally, players develop at different rates. This is especially true of locks. Of the 26 players who represented South Africa at the Under-19 World Championships this year, 11 did not play for South African Schools. Exactly the same is true of the champion Under-21 side that won in Argentina – 11 did not play for SA Schools.
One of those who missed out on both SA Schools and SA Academy was Golden Lions prop Heinke van der Merwe, who then played SA Under-19 and SA Under-21. He was a surprise omission in 2003.
One of the Under-21 side was not even chosen for his province. Davon Raubenheimer was not chosen for the South Western Districts side when the wings were Craig Booysen and Christiaan Kruger.
The 2005 South African Schools team: Zander de Kock (Falcons), Divan Kapp (Pumas), Joseph Oosthuizen (Free State), Hendrik Roodt (Leopards), Giant Nkosi (Golden Lions), Conraad Britz (South Western Districts), Pieter Meyer (Blue Bulls), Dewald Potgieter (Eastern Province) (captain), Marlon Lewis (Eastern Province), André Smith (Western Province), Rowan Walters (Griquas), Stefan Watermeyer (Blue Bulls), PJ Vermeulen (Griquas), Christopher Juries (Eastern Province), Christopher Micklewood (KwaZulu Natal), Edgar Marutlulle (Leopards), Riacco Ellerd (Griquas), Hans-Jurie Moolman (Pumas), Vincent Gwavu (Eastern Province), Mandilakhe Tile (Border), Morné Jooste (Western Province), Aubrey McDonald (Eastern Province).
