Saru

Saru may refer to:

Places

Iran

Japan

Romania

Elsewhere

Sports

South African Rugby Union

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board and the non-racial South African Rugby Union (SACOS), and took up its current name in 2005.

SARU organises several national teams, most notably the senior national side, the Springboks.

Current events

SARU is now attempting to recover from the tumultuous tenure of former president Brian van Rooyen. His tenure as SARU (then SARFU) president began in 2004, after the debacle of the 2003 World Cup, which saw the Springboks exit in the quarterfinals, and the scandal of Kamp Staaldraad, the training camp run by then-Boks coach Rudolph Straeuli. Straeuli would resign, as did Rian Oberholzer, the managing director of South Africa Rugby (Pty) Ltd, the commercial arm of SARFU. Soon afterwards, SARFU president Silas Nkununu, facing a strong reelection challenge, withdrew from consideration for election, and van Rooyen was elected president. He soon became a highly polarising figure in South African sport, with detractors accusing him of financial shenanigans, favouritism, and general mismanagement. His management style was also widely perceived as autocratic.