Eddie Jones gets it right with race

Eddie Jones was the man many South African rugby fans loved to hate.

The former Australian national coach was abrasive, combative and often dismissive of the Springboks.

ALSO READ: Boks looking to kick on with exciting blend of youth and experience

Perhaps he’s mellowed with age, but his interview this week with RugbyPass TV saw him making some positive comments about South African rugby.

The Springboks, he said, had changed, from “being almost the Afrikaans side” to one where there was “a natural mix of Afrikaans, English South Africans, players from the Cape, black players” and they had “all become one team now”.

He went on: “It’s almost a perfect picture of how we should live our lives, you know; it doesn’t matter where you come from, just get on with it. There’s a purpose there, let’s do it as well as we can.”

Let’s just pause the tape right there. This is an outsider – a straight-talking Aussie at that – making a statement that should give us all pause for thought.

When the Boks took two back-to-back Rugby World Cups, it was a poignant reminder that South Africans are capable of big things – the biggest things – and that we are only held back by our obsession with race or ideology.

ALSO READ: Malherbe stepped aside so Koch could start 50th Test against Wales

South African rugby was once a mess – but look at it now. It’s no longer a “white sport”. It has, whether the populists like it or not, showed that success can unite a nation and give impetus to a sometimes stalled journey to true transformation.

The words of Jones should be printed and laminated on cards to be distributed to all of our politicians – both inside the putative government of national unity (GNU) and outside it.

However, as the GNU threatens to degenerate into petty squabbling even before it gets going, we don’t need Jones to remind us that we are always stronger together…