Incoming SA Rugby (Saru) president Mark Alexander admitted to taking over the helm with the rugby governing body having endured some trying times. The new Saru boss‚ who replaces Oregan Hoskins who resigned two months ago‚ and his executive council will have to hit the ground running to ensure Saru turns the corner and takes its rightful place to once again be regarded as one of the most efficient sports bodies in the country for the duration of his tenure which ends at the next Saru elections in 2018.Alexander takes the reins at a time where the national side‚ the Springboks‚ once the darlings of SA sport‚ are facing some trying times following an unimpressive past few years since the reign of ex-coach Heyneke Meyer into the current coach Allister Coetzee’s reign which began belatedly earlier in the year.There is a long list of other short-term issues that Alexander and Co. will have to deal with to ensure the successful running of the body. Over and above the performance of the Boks‚ these include the bid to host the 2023 World Cup‚ transformation and ensuring co-operation between unions and the Springboks in order to move cohesively in ensuring a standard style of play that will benefit the national team. We take a look at what Alexander had to say following the announcement of his election as the new president:NEW RUGBY STRUCTURES"One of the things we are looking at now is the demarcation in governance. This is something that we have put in place to have nine provinces (replacing the current 14 unions)‚ to be in line with our nine (geographical) provinces."We are looking at the high structure of South African rugby as it currently looks. We are going to move towards a franchise (Super Rugby) and non-franchise (domestic unions not participating in Super Rugby) model."In the franchise model we will allow for greater equity participation by equity partners‚ making it more professional as well."SYNERGY BETWEEN UNIONS AND NATIONAL TEAMS"We have commitment from our Super Rugby franchises [from last week's indaba]. There will be a follow up meeting in December‚ with a conditioning conference taking place at exactly the same time. So that is rolling in now and we should see the results in a few months time. "We must also take into consideration that the amount of a lack of co-operation over time [in the past] has caught up with us. We have six franchises doing their own thing‚ week in week out‚ and we never collaborated. This is long overdue and I think now with the collaboration we have agreed to‚ we will see a lot of benefits for the coach (Allister Coetzee).BLOODING YOUNGSTERS FOR 2019 WORLD CUP"Our pinnacle is‚ of course the 2019 World Cup‚ and we want to field a youthful team with experience."If you look at where we are currently‚ we have 22 new players in a squad of 32. We lacked experience this year. The only way to gain it [for 2019] is by [them] playing."TRANSFORMATION"One looks at our barometer‚ we're on track in meeting our targets when government measures us in May next year. The Springboks and all our national teams have met their targets."There were one or two little areas that we needed to work on‚ one being the non-traditional [rugby] schools getting into rugby programmes. We are dealing with the targets and we are quite comfortable that we will meet our targets when we meet with the EPG (Eminent Persons Group) again. We are still working hard‚ and those are the areas we will plug the gaps."BID TO HOST 2023 RUGBY WORLD CUP"We were successful with our application phase for the Rugby World Cup 2023. We are convinced that we will get it passed by government next year."We have had to meet certain targets. We need to bring this competition home‚ we need to have it here. It will be great for the country."One looks at our GDP currently - 9% of our GDP comes from tourism and of that the bulk comes from sports tourism‚ so this is key for our country. The tournament will generate 38‚600 temporary jobs. We will have a direct and indirect inducing economic impact of R27.3-billion‚ so it's good for the country."The government looked at where we were [in terms of transformation targets] and said that provided we meet our targets we can go ahead and bid‚ provided the targets are met by 2017. We are on track with those targets‚ we meet them right now."The [sports] ministry has given us conditional permission to go ahead. We've gone through the first phase and there are three of us that have gone on to the next round - France‚ Ireland and South Africa. I think the minister (Fikile Mbalula) can see the results.TMG Digital/TMG Sport..