Pressure to transform boks

Like those before him, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will be under pressure to meet the South African Rugby Union's transformation targets when he names his final World Cup squad on August 31.

Saru deputy president Mark Alexander said Meyer would have to be cognisant of the organisation's Strategic Transformation Plan released earlier this year when naming his final 31-man squad.

Meyer named a 49-man squad last week for this year's shortened Rugby Championship plus two international friendlies, of which 14 are players of colour - less than 30 percent. For the World Cup, Saru's Strategic Transformation Plan wants the coach to have seven black players in a match-day squad of 23.

"Of course, the coach will have to be cognisant of that plan when announcing his World Cup squad," said Alexander.

"Everybody has bought into the plan. We signed an agreement with government [regarding] the plan. It is a structured plan that has goals from now until 2019 and we try our best to meet our plans all the time."

At this time of the Springbok coach's four-year cycle, his squad selections for the World Cup are put under the public microscope and provide a barometer that measures how much progress has been made in developing internationally capable black players.

Depending on injuries - there are no less than 13 players on the injured and conditioning list training in Johannesburg - Meyer should not struggle to pick nine players of colour on merit in his final World Cup squad.