KEY POINTS:
Springbok coach Jake White may still be pulling his jaw off the floor.
He is normally a calm, rational man, which is a massive commendation for someone who makes his living in the political muck which is South African rugby, but you could understand him enrolling in anger-management classes after the announcement of the expanded World Cup squad.
A group which was already bulging with 45 players had suddenly become 46 after the executive intervention of SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins, deputy president Koos Basson and vice-president Mike Stofile to include the Stormers' controversial Luke Watson.
By all accounts - and there have been no eye-witness reports of White's reaction - the coach was almost as shocked as Watson when the loose forward heard of his back-door promotion.
It would have been like the New Zealand rugby boss of the day slipping Duane Monkley's name into the All Blacks list for the 1993 tour of Britain or NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs adding a personal favourite into today's announcement of the shadow World Cup group.
Nothing more than that really, according to Hoskins, who made a pig's ear of an interview he gave to former Irish and Lions halfback and 702 radio host John Robbie, about the episode.
Hoskins accepted his move was "unprecedented" and was "not something that I would like to see happen again," before he justified it with all the accuracy of a punch-drunk heavyweight.
He had moved to administer popular opinion.
Robbie asked: "But then why not have a vote for a team. Why not do away with selectors? We can use the internet and vote the team in."
Hoskins replied: "I am not going to repeat what I said to you earlier on, and the reason is that we think that the player Luke Watson is good enough to be in the training squad.
"We believe that the coach and the two national selectors are wrong.
"We believe that it's time that the player was given an opportunity to be in the training squad, and we stand by that."
South Africa's convener of selectors, Peter Jooste, was dismayed at the political interference.
"The presidency felt that Luke needed to be included, and without our knowledge, they added him to the group," Jooste told the Star newspaper.
"I'm not happy about the situation, because they've undermined us. We've been working towards the World Cup for three years now and have always worked around a key group of players."
White was summoned to a meeting with the president's council in Cape Town soon after that interview and when he assembled with some of the squad in Bloemfontein, the media were told that SA Rugby had gagged the coach. Other members of the Springbok staff would be available but White would not be giving interviews until next week.
"This is an instruction from SA Rugby," media manager Vusi Kama said.
Instead the media were left to watch the interaction between White and Watson, for signs of any byplay or tension after the loose forward revealed he had not spoken to the coach for about four years.
The Bloemfontein fitness and skills camp involved only 18 of the expanded 46-strong squad as the rest were involved with the Sharks and Bulls in preparing for the Super 14 final in Durban. The squad will then be trimmed for the first test side to play England a week later.
World Cups seem to bring out the murky side of South African rugby.
Four years ago before the tournament in Australia, there were allegations that white lock Geo Cronje had refused to room with black teammate Quinton Davids.
An internal inquiry found no conclusive evidence of racism before an independent King inquiry was started after team media officer Mark Keohane resigned, detailing incidents of prejudice.
About the same time, Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli arranged for the World Cup squad to be put through a mind-numbing boot camp run by members of the former elite police force.
Kamp Staaldraad (Camp Barbed Wire) was supposed to be a team-bonding exercise but when details of the humiliating treatment emerged after the Springboks quarter-final exit, there was widespread protest.
Players had been forced naked, at gunpoint, into freezing water to complete meaningless tasks while listening to recordings of God Save the Queen and the haka used by the All Blacks.
White may feel a little like those players this week in Bloemfontein.
He has explained several times his belief that Watson was too small for international rugby and that there were others better suited to selection but a relentless Cape Town media obsession with Watson and perceived selection slights on the flanker have finally hit their mark with SA president Hoskins.
Loose forwards Schalk Burger, Kabamba Floors, Danie Rossouw, Bob Skinstad, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Joe van Niekerk and AJ Venter have made the squad but the coach left out claimants like Pedrie Wannenburg, Wickus ven Heerden, Ernst Joubert, Cobus Grobbelaar, Hendro Scholtz, Jacques Botes and Ryan Kankowski who could feel as unlucky as Watson.
Apparently every SA Rugby press bulletin is accompanied by a blurb urging the public to put aside any personal agendas and to support the Boks in the Cup season.
Maybe Hoskins and Co have yet to get to the fine print.
