Four coaches have been shortlisted to take over South Africa's troubled national rugby team following a disastrous World Cup campaign and allegations of racism within the squad, the rugby union president announced yesterday.
The candidates -- Dumisane Mhani, Chester Williams, Andre Markgraaf and Heineke Meyer -- include two black coaches, said Brian van Rooyen, who took over the South African Rugby Football Union following a string of resignations last week.
They will be interviewed by a technical committee, which will make its recommendation to the board by Jan. 20, Van Rooyen said at a news briefing. The new coach will be announced by Jan. 30.
However, concern has been raised about the shortlisted coaches' experience.
Markgraaf has not coached in recent months. Williams has minimal experience in 15-man rugby, despite excelling at the sevens version of the game. Mhani coaches a first division team, while Meyer's Super 12 team had a disastrous tournament this year, though his provincial side won two tournaments.
While pledging to change the face of South African rugby, Van Rooyen rejected a quota system to bring in black players. He wants the coach to instead identify talented young black players and bring them up through the system.
"That is how transformation will work," he said.
The union's former president, Silas Nkanunu, the managing director of its professional arm, Rian Oberholzer, and coach Rudolph Straeuli stepped down last week following South Africa's humiliating 29-9 defeat by New Zealand in the World Cup quarterfinals in Australia.
News reports blamed the team's poor showing on a military-style boot camp held before the tournament outside the capital, Pretoria.
Photographs published in local newspapers showed Springbok players stripped naked and huddled together in a pit at the camp dubbed Kamp Staaldraad, or Camp Steel Wire. Others showed them crawling naked through the grass, lugging railway tracks, and lined up to have eggs cracked over their heads.
The Springboks have also been dogged by reports of racism within their ranks, with white lock Geo Cronje excluded from the squad that went to Australia because he refused to share a room with a black teammate, Quinton Davids.
The incident sparked an inquiry into racism in rugby, which Van Rooyen said would now be scrapped.
"We will work closely with the [sport] minister and cooperate, but for now we must get on with the business of rugby," he said.
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