Realising they would struggle to get 30,000 spectators through the turnstiles at Mbombela Stadium, two bright sparks at SA Rugby came up with a concept to attract the locals.The Wayde Special, as they called it, was aimed at getting more under-privileged members of the community to the game. In honour of the new 400m world record time in Rio, the price of one of the cheapest tickets for the test was dropped from R150 to R43,03.story_article_left1The Special was promoted on Mpumalanga-based radio station Rise FM and the locals were out of the blocks like Olympian sprinters at the two designated malls where tickets were on sale.The intention was to sell 400 tickets (Van Niekerk's distance) at the adjusted price but the demand for tickets meant about 1,500 were sold in an hour."It was heart-warming to see. The idea was to exclusively get the locals involved by promoting it on a local radio station and by selling the tickets in malls," said a SA Rugby official who did not want to be named."Although it was aimed at the less privileged we saw people across the spectrum queue for tickets. From women with small children to boere ommies in their khakis.What touched me was that people would produce these heavily creased R50 notes to pay for the tickets - people who would ordinarily not have enough money to buy tickets.Suddenly they could go to the game as a family by buying four tickets for the price of one."The most expensive ticket to yesterday's test was R3,000 but it was aimed at VIP guests in air-conditioned and guarded hospitality enclosures. By yesterday morning only 27,000 tickets for the 41000-seater stadium were sold.Test ticket prices are usually set by the host union but rugby's governing body may need to take the lead in future."We still need a full debriefing but it definitely opened our eyes," said the official. "We will probably look to have this kind of promotion in future. It is definitely worth repeating. It will no doubt affect projected profits but I think lessons were learnt."block_quotes_start SA Rugby should rid itself of controversial Jurie Roux but the view was not widely shared among the other blazer wearers block_quotes_endSA Rugby also took strides elsewhere when on Friday they opened their eighth "Boks for Books" library at Sukumani Primary School in Matsulu in rural Mpumalanga.The new library forms part of their corporate social investment programme, the first of its kind in Mpumalanga.These public relations gains came as manna for an organisation that finds ways of sailing close to the wind. Just this week SA Rugby kicked its long-serving president Oregan Hoskins into touch.After a decade in the hot seat Hoskins resigned amid mounting pressure and the realisation that he no longer had the support of the organisation's board or executive council.Hoskins had said SA Rugby should rid itself of controversial chief executive Jurie Roux but the view was not widely shared among the other blazer wearers in the top two decision-making bodies.story_article_right2There is a widely held view in SA Rugby that getting rid of Roux without following due process could leave the organisation vulnerable to paying him an astronomical severance package.On the field the Springboks continued their build-up to the Rugby Championships amid speculation that captain and hooker Adriaan Strauss may soon find himself under pressure to retain his place.Coach Allister Coetzee installed Strauss as captain for the year but the inclusion of Lions' tyro Malcolm Marx in the Bok squad is likely to have an immense impact.Marx by some distance has been the form hooker in the country in Super Rugby and his strength and athleticism will make him hard to ignore when he is eventually unleashed in the test arena.Coetzee this week announced Bryan Habana as the team's vice-captain. He perhaps pointedly ignored the claims of Lions skipper Warren Whiteley, who, should his teammate break into the squad, would be a genuine contender for the skipper's armband.sports@timesmedia.co.za..