There’s nothing like being the World champs in your sport to have a little leverage to get your way. I’m not trying to say that this is the only reason why South Africa decided to lift racial quotas on their country’s sports… but it certainly helped. And to be honest, I think that the new decision will not only help sports in South Africa, but led to a much better decision in promoting racial fairness in their top levels of sport.

“Quotas are out. We are not going to decide who must be on the team. All we are saying is expose everybody, give them an opportunity,” Stofile said.

The presence of only two non-white players in South Africa’s World Cup-winning rugby team’s starting line-up, 13 years after the end of apartheid, led to a new debate over the progress of black sportsmen and women.

World Cup winning coach Jake White was not in favour of quotas, saying the team should be selected on merit.

The BBC’s correspondent in Cape Town, Mohammed Allie, said: “The idea of quotas is still favoured by a marginal majority, according to a survey.”

He added previous claims by political leaders that sporting success was not as important as bringing through black sporting talent had been revised after the Springboks’ triumph in France.

Now, I’m not going to totally rip South Africa’s policy-makers to shreds for ditching a publically backed policy after tasting the sweet, sweet taste of victory. The ONLY reason why I say this, is because in my opinion the outcome could help with both racial equality and success at the top level. Also, it’s human nature. I bet at some point in A-Rod’s life he actually believed that it was about winning… not about the money. But success can change you. The possibility of $350 million will change you.

The decision instead is investing a good deal of money in developing black athletes in the country on a grass roots level. Look, it does no good to have a racial quota if you are going to impact the success of your team. Then the incorrect implication could be that certain races are not capable of competing at that level, and could actually serve to support racist beliefs in the country that just ended apartheid 13 years ago. Instead, the decision to develop young talent and paying to bring up players through the system is the correct, long-term solution to a problem that’s been around for quite some time. As Sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile says:

“Quotas were used only for window dressing for international consumption,” he added.

“We must kill the myth that black people cannot play certain sporting codes because they are black.

“Let us put our resources into the development of talent.”

This is like the Yankees realizing that the only way to sustain a competitive team is to develop your farm system. It’s a realization that I hope is successful, and one that strangely enough was not the plan all along. The danger in this is of course that the financial support is artificial and done just to appease the masses. But if it is done well, South African rugby could become the dominant power in the Southern Hemisphere for years to come.

• South Africa remove racial quotas (BBC Sport)