After the euphoria of winning a place in the final against England, the question of race, never far from the surface in South Africa, has once again become the dominant issue.

Even the most ardent Springbok supporters could not deny that the team looked remarkably like all previous ones, lily-white with a couple of coloured players on the wing.

Dali Ndebele of Soweto township rugby club, one of many black teams in the country, said: “It is sad, we have made such little progress. This team is virtually unchanged in racial make-up from those of 1995, 1999, and 2003.” Radio phone-in shows asked why, more than 13 years after the end of apartheid, the national side contained so few black players.

White people make up 10 per cent of the popuation. Yet the squad of 30 in Paris contains a mere seven players of colour, only two of whom – the former Cape gang member J K Pietersen and Bryan Habana – make the first choice team.

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The substitutes’ bench against Argentina was all white and is expected to remain so next Saturday.

Only one of the seven is a black African as opposed to mixed race or coloured, definitions which may seem politically out of place elsewhere in the world but which take on enormous significance in South Africa.

Critics said that such an imbalance could not be explained away by genetics, but went to the heart of rugby’s long association with “old South Africa”. More than any other sport, it was synonymous with apartheid and has struggled to adapt to a new world, or in the jargon of the South Africa’s political lexicon “transform”.

Andy Colquhoun, a rugby commentator, said: “There is great impatience within the black community at the slow pace of transformation, and rightly so.” It was critical that more schools in poor areas play the game and that funds be made available, he said.The structure of the game, where 14 provinces, dominated by old school administrators, wield enormous influence, did not help.

Despite the debate, most South Africans, including President Mbeki who frequently criticises “white whingers”, are prepared to put the issue aside for a while next Saturday. “Mbeki told the boys, ‘Forget politics, go out and win it’, that says it all,” Mr Colquhoun said.

Win or lose, however, there will be some tough questions to deal with when the team returns – a possible reason why it appears it will be the coach Jake White’s last game in charge of what has been described “the worst job in sport”.