Troubled build-up a setback for Boks

South African rugby is once again recovering from turmoil as the new Tri Nations gets under way this week.

The coach has decided to stay after threatening to leave in a public contract spat; the Tri Nations squad has been criticised; and that old issue - race - has again raised its head.

None of that is to say the Boks will not do well in the coming series - there is no more practised rugby nation at dealing with off-field politics and they were the last side to beat Graham Henry's All Blacks. But there must be some lingering doubts that the South Africans have successfully confronted all their demons ahead of this year's Tri Nations.

The most difficult problem has been the immediate future of the coach, the previously popular Jake White. He asked the South African Rugby Union for a contract extension until 2009 that gave him job security past the 2007 World Cup. The SARU stalled, sparking White's decision to publicly reveal his interest in a coaching role with England.

In spite of comparative success - the Boks won the 2004 Tri Nations title and he lifted South Africa to third in the world - White has enemies.

Part of that enmity stems from the race issue which has been at the core of South African rugby since their international readmission. Butana Komphela, chairman of the parliamentary committee on sport, called on White to quit because the South African side he named to play France last Saturday included no blacks.

Komphela accused him of stifling the inclusion of black players based on the misguided rationale South Africa are a winning team. "It's not about a winning team. It's about a winning team that has the support of the country behind it," said Komphela. "We're battling to make rugby a sport that has the support of this country."

White has given several black players their chance at test level and three have been included in South Africa's Tri Nations squad. Yet the selection of flanker Solly Tyibilika has drawn some criticism because it is not seen as a "merit selection".

Tyibilika could not make the Sharks' Super 14 squad and barely featured for their second XV in the Vodacom Cup but has been chosen ahead of Stormer Luke Watson. Wikus van Heerden, whom White once said would be his captain in the absence of John Smit, was also overlooked.

Other rugby watchers will wonder why livewire halfback Ruan Pienaar is not in the squad, which contains under-21 players JP Pietersen, loose forward Pierre Spies and the intriguingly named Chilliboy Ralepelle.

The problems at first five-eighths continue, with Jaco van der Westhuyzen wobbly against the French. His back-up, Andre Pretorius, was selected before he then embarrassed White by revealing he was injured but no one had bothered to ask him. Cheetahs first five Meyer Bosman replaces him. These selection wrangles, plus a home loss to France, do not seem the best basis for a campaign but White has survived and is seeking to move on.

Springbok squad

Forwards: John Smit (captain), Chilliboy Ralepelle, Eddie Andrews, Os du Randt, Lawrence Sephaka, CJ van der Linde, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Albert van den Berg, Danie Rossouw, Danie Coetzee, Solomzi Tyibilika, Jacques Cronjé, Juan Smith, Joe van Niekerk, Pierre Spies.

Backs: Fourie du Preez, Enrico Januarie, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, André Pretorius (injured and replaced by Meyer Bosman), Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier, JP Pietersen, Akona Ndungane, Breyton Paulse, Brent Russell, Percy Montgomery.