I don't agree with either of these statements.
If, IF, what Druzik was told was true - that there are close to fifty teams in SA - then I, for one, think that's a pretty good foundation for the sport in that country. And given that feedback from the Canada game suggests their players are not novices and they have experience of playing RL, that says to me that plenty are taking it seriously.
If there are fifty teams then that possibly makes them the sixth largest RL playing nation after Australia, England, New Zealand, PNG and France. After those five (and SA) you'd struggle to name one country with more than a couple of dozen teams. Can RL really afford to ignore SA.
I'd also dispute your claim about Afrikaaners' continuing malevolent influence in the wider SA community. Yes, there must still be pockets of resistance to RL, but it will be diminishing, and anyway, the political landscape has changed totally. For every stuck-in-the past Africaaner trying to promote his own discredited ideas there's a dozen who'll oppose him. If some want to crush RL, there'll be those who oppose and support. The Boers are no longer the power in the land.
The simple fact that nearly fifty teams find pitches, sponsors and, presumably, some local media coverage, indicates that things are far removed from the dark days of Craven and his cohorts.
As for the Afrikaaners being anti-RL, take a look at the names in the current Rhinos squad.
