The 2007 South African rugby season will never be forgotten as long as the game is played in South Africa. The Springboks’ Rugby World Cup victory was a triumph for rugby and it once again proved the staggering ability of sport to make us see our similarities rather than our differences.

We also had the pleasure of watching the Vodacom Bulls becoming the first South African team to win the Super 14 title in all-SA final no less and the Vodacom Free State Cheetahs completed a remarkable hat-trick of ABSA Currie Cup victories. Truly, it was an annus mirabilis for South African rugby.

It was an unforgettable year too for the family of Struisbaai Rugby Club lock Rowan Stanley – as much as they probably wish they could forget it. On April 4 Rowan passed away four days after being injured in a loose scrum in a pre-season friendly in Bredasdorp. He was 26. His death meant he wasn’t there to share the Springboks’ triumph with his family and he won’t be around to see his four-year-old son grow and one day play his first game of rugby.

Rowan’s injury was one of 21 catastrophic injuries suffered by South African rugby players in 2007 of which six were left quadriplegic and of whom three are not expected to make a full recovery.

But 2007 might also come to be marked as a watershed year in the battle against such injuries and as a landmark year for the Fund.

This year the South African Rugby Union made a ground-breaking commitment to seriously escalate their determination to tackle the scourge of catastrophic injuries and join with us in a unified national plan of action.

SARU have committed to:

• Fund a unified national prevention programme
• Establish a dedicated Rugby Safety department with necessary capacity and resources.
• Work in conjunction with us and other existing contributing agencies to formulate a national plan.

We keenly await the roll-out on those pledges because we know that when SARU take the lead that the possibility of an injury such as the one that led to Rowan’s death will be dramatically minimized.

Both the New Zealand and Australian Rugby Football Union has proved it can be done with their national rugby safety programme and what a triumph it would be for the South African Rugby Union if during this current four-year reign as world champions they were also able to say that they had conquered the tragedy of life-threatening injuries.

The Fund is looking forward to a memorable 2008.

Thanks for your interest and support

Morné du Plessis