Blue Bulls lock Geo Cronje and his Western Province counterpart Quinton Davids, who were this week at the centre of a racial storm that rocked South African rugby, both failed to make the 30-man Springbok World Cup squad that was announced on Saturday. This raised questions again about the entire selection process.
Cronjé was cleared on Saturday on a charge of racism, levelled at him after he refused to share a room with Davids at a pre-World Cup training camp in Pretoria. The South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) on Saturday released a statement in which they said that there was no "conclusive evidence" that his actions were based on racism. However, his absence from the Boks' RWC squad, after he was one of the outstanding players in the Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Dunedin earlier this month, suggests that he has been "disciplined" after all. This may be for his decision to break with team protocol and move out of the room he shared with Davids and into another room. The SARFU statement confirmed that "certain team protocols had been breached in terms of players swopping rooms without permission". The absence of Davids would probably also relate to form, as much as it does to disciplinary action for his breaches of team protocol. He turned up 50 minutes late for a practice. The big winner in all this is Blue Bulls utility forward Danie Rossouw, who now finds himself in the squad as loose forward-cum-lock - ahead of Cronjé and Davids. Rossouw was moved from flank to lock by Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer in the Currie Cup this year, after Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Cronjé were all called-up to the national squad. He will no doubt be happy to again get a call-up. He was picked to tour Europe in 2001 with the Springboks, but injured himself two days prior to the team's departure. Straeuli included four uncapped players in his squad of 30 and ensured that veteran scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen will play in his third successive World Cup. Lions centre Jaque Fourie, Western Province loose forward Schalk Burger, Bulls fly-half Derick Hougaard and Bulls loose forward-cum-lock Rossouw make up the quartet of uncapped internationals. Straeuli opted for a 16/14 forwards and backs split and refused to take any risks with players currently injured. The blanket decision not to include any player who presently cannot participate in training means that Bob Skinstad, Brent Russell and André Pretorius can only make the World Cup if players in the selected squad withdraw because of injury. The World Cup Boks will play two warm-up matches against the Cheetahs and Falcons on September 16 and 23 respectively. 2003 World Cup Springboks:
Backs: De Wet Barry (Western Province), Gcobani Bobo (Lions), Thinus Delport (Falcons), Neil de Kock (Western Province), Jaque Fourie (Lions), Werner Greeff (Western Province), Derick Hougaard (Bulls), Louis Koen (Lions), Ricardo Loubscher (Sharks), Jorrie Muller (Lions), Breyton Paulse (Western Province), Stefan Terblanché (Sharks), Joost van der Westhuizen (Bulls), Ashwin Willemse (Lions).
Forwards: Richard Bands (Bulls), Christo Bezuidenhout (Pumas), Selborne Boome (Western Province), Bakkies Botha (Bulls), Schalk Burger (Western Province), Danie Coetzee (Bulls), Corné Krige (Western Province, captain), Victor Matfield (Bulls), Faan Rautenbach (Western Province), Danie Rossouw (Bulls), Dale Santon (SWD Eagles), Hendro Scholtz (Free State Cheetahs), Juan Smith (Free State Cheetahs), John Smit (Sharks), Lawrence Sephaka(Lions) and Joe van Niekerk (Lions).
