South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) president Brian van Rooyen says the board of SA Rugby will meet in Johannesburg on Wednesday to discuss and agree on the way forward following the widespread changes within the game’s top structure last week. He also acted to quell media speculation on numerous current matters.
Van Rooyen was confirmed as the president of Sarfu last Friday, a day after SA Rugby managing director Rian Oberholzer and Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli had stepped down.
”There are several outstanding issues that have to be discussed with action plans to be put in place,” said Van Rooyen. ”There has been a lot published in the media in recent days with regard to the appointment of the new Springbok coach, the possible candidates for that position, the managing director’s position and much else.
”This is all speculation and is strongly denied as premature at this stage.
”The board of SA Rugby will release all detail relevant to these and other issues after it has had an opportunity to meet and discuss the way forward for South African rugby.”
Van Rooyen also appealed for calm and patience in the wake of the swift changes that have taken place.
”Given the current situation in our game, many people, from administrators and players to the media and the man in the street, are looking for solutions and answers.
”It is going to take time to settle things down and we all need to remain calm to ensure that we do things right. Our intentions have been made clear and we need cool heads to translate words into action,” he said. — Sapa