Bid to ban Springboks from Rugby World Cup fails

The South African Springbok rugby team poses during the World Cup squad announcement. Photo / Getty Images

An attempt to stop the Springboks travelling to the Rugby World Cup in Britain has failed.

But the North Gauteng High Court judge who dismissed the application has agreed with the Agency for a New Agenda (ANA) party that the pace of change two decades after the abolition of apartheid was "grindingly slow", the Guardian has reported.

The ANA's attempt to have the Springboks' passports confiscated always appeared likely to fail, although Judge Ntendeya Mavundla said the party could try to have the hearing continued. He said that a majority of white players in the 31-man squad did not constitute an "inconsistency with the Constitution".

The South African Rugby Union wanted a minimum of eight non-white players in coach Heyneke Meyer's squad, which was achieved.

The ANA is described as an "obscure" political party. Its president Edward Mokhoanatse said the SARU had "21 years to sort this out - we can't wait any longer."

Chris Rattue: Time to get rid of the Springboks

"The participation of the non-representative and racially exclusionary national team of South Africa in favour of the minority section of the country's population in the Rugby World Cup is inconsistent with our Constitution and ought not to be permitted to represent South Africa.

"The continued administration of South African rugby by both [SARU and Mbalula] constitutes an affront to the values of the Constitution ... their collective failure to change and transform rugby should be regarded as an aberration, gross mismanagement, incompetence and ineptitude that should attract the severest of sanctions possible."

The SARU and Minister for Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula made no comment. The Guardian said Mbalula had been "vociferous in his support for transformation and disdain for sporting bodies which lag behind in providing opportunities for the previously disadvantaged."