Andy Colquhoun Harry Viljoen is set to irrevocably change the face of South African rugby when he becomes Springbok coach in Cape Town today. Viljoen is likely to announce that he will be taking 10 black players in the 40-strong Springbok squad for the four-Test end-of- season tour to Argentina, Ireland, Wales and England. And next week when the former Natal, Transvaal and Western Province coach names his management team in Johannesburg, the widely predicted conversion of Chester Williams to a coach will be confirmed. Western Province manager Thelo Wakefield could also find himself promoted to the management team. Viljoen’s arrival will finally put flesh on the bones of the South African Rugby Football Union’s (Sarfu) much talked about, but as yet unpublished, Vision 2003 policy statement. The document is reported to commit Sarfu to fielding six non-white players in all its teams by 2003 – an idea which remains a pipe dream while 11 of the 14 provinces (honourable exceptions go to Boland, Eastern Province and Border) cannot find it in their hearts and minds to exceed the Currie Cup quota of two. If Sarfu and Viljoen hold their nerve this week and go through with the plan to take the “perfect 10” on tour it will be the clearest signal yet that Sarfu – if not the game itself – really is committed to making itself representative of the rugby-playing population of South Africa. It will also be rugby’s first significant step on the harder and longer road to convincing South Africa’s black majority that rugby might also be a game for them. Viljoen’s practical commitment to Vision 2003 is likely to leave aghast South African rugby’s hard core of traditionalists. If provinces such as the Bulls and Lions find it hard to keep two black players on the field during a Currie Cup game (for which they were recently fined) it is hard to see them and their followers being convinced that there are 10 black players in the country who are good enough to be Springboks. In fact, Viljoen’s move is no more than a logical step following on from former coach Nick Mallett, who began the process by selecting Breyton Paulse, Deon Kayser, Wayne Julies and Kaya Malotana in his World Cup squad of 30. It is very doubtful though that Mallett would have been as bold as this. Strategically, Viljoen has been shrewd, for which some of the credit, if not all of it, must go to his new spin doctor, Mark Keohane. The former rugby writer’s next piece of advice to his employer (and Sarfu has stressed that Keohane will not be its employee) should be to don his hard hat and hold steady under the inevitable fire. Mallett was bombarded for the palace coup of changing the way the Springboks play. Viljoen is attempting a revolution.
But attempting it now is strategically correct. Viljoen will have the honeymoon effect on his side during what was always likely to be a tour fraught with difficulties. The midweek side have hard games against virtual national second XVs and will at times be travelling semi- independently of the Test squad. Blooding a host of youngsters in that environment will make some reputations and break others. But more importantly it gives the coach the chance of delivering on South African rugby’s commitment to transform the game in time to send a side to the 2003 World Cup that is representative of South African rugby and has a good chance of winning it. The trick for Viljoen will be to keep everyone onside while the process is under way and for that he needs the unflinching support of a Sarfu executive (which now includes all 14 provincial presidents) which has shown itself to be twitchy when the pressure comes on. And one defeat is usually enough to prompt the 12″ guns of the media to be laboriously cranked into position to aim a few indiscriminate broadsides at the obvious targets. This is where the choice of Keohane is so intriguing (I should declare an interest here and say that I have recently worked in tandem with him as a rugby commentary team on Cape Talk). Viljoen has set a thief to catch a thief and if Keohane can steer clear of the controversy that was his stock-in-trade then there is no reason why it can’t work. How big an “if” that is depends partly on Keohane, who will have to learn to bite his tongue far more frequently than he has been used to, and on Viljoen, who will have to use his considerable charm to rebuild some of the bridges his new handler has happily burnt in recent times. But, of course, the central issue for rugby fans will be the performance of the team rather than its politics and on that will hinge Viljoen’s success and longevity. In the botched circumstances of his succession, victory in all four of the Tests on tour would be a significant achievement and even three wins cannot be taken for granted. By the time France arrive for a two-Test tour at the start of next season, however, the honeymoon will be over and it won’t matter what has been achieved in other areas. The only thing that will count is Springbok wins and if Viljoen can produce those with a side increasingly representative of South Africa’s rugby-playing population, then the game should go down on its knees and offer a quiet prayer in thanks.