Rugby union: World Cup organiser Luyt resigns

The South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) president and World Cup organiser Louis Luyt has resigned, the Johannesburg Sunday Times reported. 'I have decided to do the honourable thing and resign. I said that unless the Springbok team's management was changed I would stand down and that is what I am going to do,' the newspaper quoted Luyt as saying. The report comes just three days after a specially convened emergency meeting of the Sarfu executive had seemingly settled the row which had developed between Luyt and the South African team manager, Jannie Engelbrecht, after the Springboks returned from their unsuccessful tour of New Zealand last Sunday. Luyt had wanted to sack Engelbrecht but, at the end of the six-hour meeting, both men emerged to pledge total support for each other. The Natal president, Keith Parkinson, who is on the Sarfu executive, was unable to confirm the report but said: 'He was very emotional when I spoke to him a couple of days ago and said he was considering resigning.'