Quote:Springbok coach Jake White either loves to court controversy or he is a very brave man. In naming a 28-man squad to undertake a short tour to Australia, departing on Wednesday, he axed five players ... of which four are black.

The squad includes one new player, that were not involved in the just completed Tests against Uruguay and France, Lions fly-half André Pretorius.

For the more cynical, or the politically minded, Pretorius is a white player - which means those with agendas will certainly have enough ammunition to fire at the Bok coach should they wish to do so.

Those axed on Monday are wing Tonderai Chavhanga, flank Solly Tyibilika, scrum-half Bolla Conradie and prop Eddie Andrews.

The fifth player who have been left out is lock Gerrie Britz, who is injured.

Considering the heated debate that raged in the past week around his Bok selection policy and his acknowledgement that there had been interference in his selections - especially in regards to the transformation issue - it is certainly not the politically correct thing to go and drop a group of black players and include a white newcomer.

But the Bok coach made rugby decisions and White is on record as saying he would like to select his team without interference.

While he subscribes to the transformation agenda of the South African Rugby Union (SARU), he wants to make selections based on rugby principles.

So lets then look at the team from a rugby point of view.

In that regard the axing of Tyibilika remains a shocker. Considering that White repeatedly said he would like to give key players a break, the encounter with the Wallabies in Sydney on July 9 - the first of two matches for the Mandela Cup - would have been the perfect opportunity to give Tyibilika a run and Schalk Burger a break.

Or he could even have played Burger and Tyibilika in tandem and gave Danie Rossouw a break. As it is, there are those who questions how White can select Rossouw ahead of Tyibilika.

The coach has his reasons, but leaving Tyibilika behind to play Currie Cup rugby is a big surprise.

The non-selections of Chavhanga, Conradie and Andrews make a lot more sense.

None of them would have gotten game time in Sydney, considering they were unlikely to even get onto the bench.

With Breyton Paulse fit again and Bryan Habana in near unstoppable form, it means a brilliant player like Jean de Villiers is not even guaranteed a place on the wing. In fact De Villiers may well be moved into the midfield, where is likely to be more effective than on the wing.

Enrico Januarie, despite some glaring handling blunders in the second Test against France, deserves at least a place on the bench and Fourie du Preez remains White's first choice at scrum-half. It leaves Conradie out in the dark.

Andrews, like he did in the Super 12, has not been a shadow of the player he was in the Tri-Nations last year and Lawrence Sephaka showed against the French that he is a solid selection. White is still keen to try him at tighthead, with Os du Randt likely to be fit for the Sydney showdown.

It also means White is unlikely to vary too much from the side that played in the two Tests against France and that only minor adjustments will be made - which has been the coach's policy all along.

The selectors said they will "review" the Springbok squad when it returns from Sydney.

The squad will assemble In Johannesburg on Wednesday (June 29) and departs for Sydney that evening.

The South African squad:

Forwards: Bakkies Botha, Gary Botha, Schalk Burger, Jacques Cronjé, Os du Randt, Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw, Lawrence Sephaka, Juan Smith, John Smit (captain), Gurthro Steenkamp, Hanyani Shimange, Albert van den Berg, CJ van der Linde, Joe van Niekerk.

Backs: De Wet Barry, Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, Enrico Januarie, Marius Joubert, Wayne Julies, Percy Montgomery, Breyton Paulse, Andre Pretorius, Brent Russell, Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

FlyingBok Wrote:He drops 5 players ... 4 of them is black players ... is he brave or is he just spitefull ? :lovef:

Decide for yourself ... I would have NEVER dropped Solly .. I think he is way better than


Breyten is back .. so is Andre Pretorius :o

TheDuck Wrote:interesting developments

is Bryan Habana .. the player Strawbs pointed out as the go fast player from last year .. great if it is indeed the same player