South African rugby bosses have given new Springbok coach Peter de Villiers the final say on selection matters.
The move required a change in the South African Rugby Union’s (Saru) constitution, which specified that selections were decided by a majority of a three-man selection committee, including the national coach.
An attempt to make the change at Saru’s annual meeting in Cape Town on Friday initially failed when a written ballot requiring unanimous approval received 44 of 45 votes.
However, Saru president Regan Hoskins told a media briefing after the meeting that he had spoken to the sole objector.
”The signature was reversed,” Hoskins said.
”This brings us in line with other nations around the world and it is only right that the coach should have final say on selection.”
Hoskins was re-elected for a second two-year term after seeing off the challenge of the union’s deputy president, Mike Stofile, the brother of South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile. — Reuters