De Villiers: Believe in me
7 Mar 2008
Even the bad times are good for new Bok coach Peter de Villiers.
There are no photos on the walls of Jake White’s former office at Saru headquarters in Newlands. Nails, hammered in at various angles, balls of dried Prestik and traces of double-sided tape are the only evidence that this room was once well decorated. On the modest pine desk is a laptop, a silver pen and pencil set and a telephone. The comfortable-looking black chair behind the desk is the only sign of luxury in a room that now belongs to Peter de Villiers.
The new Bok coach is stuck in traffic and I’m sitting alone at a round table next to the desk. It’s only after a couple of minutes that I notice the small picture frame. In it is a poem. After two weeks in the job, this is the only personal item De Villiers has brought with him from his Paarl home. The words reveal a lot about its owner.
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
You are your greatest asset,
There’s nothing you can’t do.
No one can keep you from dreaming,
Only you can make them come true.
What you achieve is determined
By the desire you possess.
There is no better feeling
Than the feeling of success.
Believe in who you are
And what you do,
Don’t leave things up to fate,
It’s strictly up to you.
When De Villiers walks in, I shake his hand and ask how he is. “Even the bad times are good,” he says with a smile, before pulling up a chair.
Interviewing the new Bok coach is like having a verbal joust. When I ask questions he’s comfortable with, he gives insightful, intelligent answers. But when I ask anything controversial, he either deflects the question with a question of his own or uses a range of metaphors.
De Villiers was born in Paarl in 1957 – nine years after the introduction of apartheid. When he was a child, his family was forced to leave their comfortable home because of the Group Areas Act.
He was a small child, but he refused to be bullied. “You know, there’s no fight like a fight with no rules,” he says. “I never allowed kids to push me around then, and I don’t let people push me around today. You don’t need a big body to have a lot of brains, you know.”
De Villiers began playing rugby at the age of nine, represented Boland Schools in primary and high school and made his provincial debut while studying to become a teacher. Later on, he was invited to Saru trials but missed out on selection for the non-racial national team.
He has no regrets about his playing career, even though he did not play Currie Cup and Test rugby.
“If white people didn’t want me to live among them, why would I want to play with them?” he says. “Rugby was only one part of my life, not my life. By not playing in white competitions, I was telling them I didn’t like the way they treated my people. However, those black players that chose to play with whites were not traitors. A traitor is someone who sells his country out. I decided to stay; my best friend – who played flyhalf in my team – chose to go, and we are still friends today. He later told me that the people [in white rugby] were dishonest with him and he wasn’t treated well.”
When asked about apartheid and the affect it had on him, De Villiers tells two stories. The first is about his family being forcibly removed from their home by the apartheid police. The second was later in life when he was a teacher and a respected member of his community. De Villiers was pushing his eldest daughter on the swings in a park when a white security guard threw them out. “He treated us like dogs,” he recalls. “But apartheid affected the lives of all South Africans – black and white. If you were a white person, you were not allowed to mix with black people. You can’t be a holistic person if you don’t interact with people from all walks of life.”
De Villiers, as the poem on his desk confirms, believes in himself. He also loves himself a lot.
“Loving myself enables me to love others and congratulate them when they achieve something,” he says. “I know what I want from life, and I always back my own abilities. I’m not afraid to use the expertise of others, but most of the time I rely on myself.”
De Villiers says his top priority in life is God, “because God is everywhere”, but admits his other priorities are determined by circumstance. “My job could be my top priority today, and my family tomorrow. When I wake up in the morning, I decide what my priorities will be for the day.”
While he gets on with most people, he often clashes with those who are economical with the truth. “I don’t like dishonest people. I tend to interfere in their affairs,” he explains.
De Villiers was always going to coach after he stopped playing rugby. “I knew I had something to offer other players,” he says. De Villiers enjoyed instant success with the SA Correctional Services and SA Colleges sides, before being approached by Tygerberg. After two years with the Cape Town club, he was appointed coach of the Western Province Disas, the union’s senior B team. However, although he took the Disas to three consecutive finals, he was never considered to coach Western Province’s Currie Cup team (he was only made an assistant coach in 1998).
I ask De Villiers if this lack of opportunity, early in his coaching career, frustrated him. Does he believe WP used him just to add colour to their coaching staff? Was there ever a plan to groom him to become the Currie Cup head coach?
“There’s nothing I can do if people are dishonest,” he says. “I don’t get cross if people don’t believe in me, because that’s their view. I got a job at WP and I was successful in that job. That’s all that mattered to me.
“As for only being an assistant coach, you don’t have to be a pilot to fly from Cape Town to Durban; you can be the co-pilot too. You still get to your destination safely.”
However, De Villiers was given a chance to coach internationally at age-group level – his SA U19 team finished third at the 1999 World Championship. Although he was also an assistant with the Bulls in the 2001 Super 12, no provincial union approached him to coach their senior side. It was only in 2002 that the Falcons finally gave him a break.
When he left the Brakpan-based union in 2004, there were allegations of racism, a claim the coach denies.
“Those three years at the Falcons made me the coach I am today,” he says. “It was a tough three years, though, because I lost 33 players and had a budget of R1.2 million compared with the R10 million at the disposal of the previous coach. But I’m grateful for the opportunity they gave me.”
When SA U21 coach Jake White got the Bok job in 2004, De Villiers was given another opportunity on the world stage. His Baby Boks finished third at the World Championship that year, won it in 2005 and finished second in 2006.
Yet in 2007, De Villiers was still waiting for another opportunity to coach at Currie Cup or Super 14 level. Instead, he worked as a consultant to Maties first team in Stellenbosch, and the club won the WP Super A League and the National Club Championships. Later in the year, he took the Emerging Springboks to Romania and won the IRB Nations Cup. When he returned home, he was amazed by the low-key reception the team received. Even more hurtful was the fact that no-one from Saru contacted him to offer their congratulations.
De Villiers was close to Newlands rugby stadium when he received the call from SA Rugby CEO Johan Prinsloo. “Hi Peter, Johan here. I need you to come to the fourth floor of the Sports Science Institute for a press conference. You’ve got the job.”
“I cannot describe the way I felt at that moment,” recalls De Villiers. “I had prepared myself for both eventualities, but I was still blown away by the enormity of it all.”
At just after 1.30pm, De Villiers walked into his first Springbok press conference wearing the Bulls blazer he’d earned in 2001. After facing the media – and hearing Saru president Oregan Hoskins admit that transformation had played a part in his selection – De Villiers drove home to find his house covered in Bok flags and messages from well-wishers scribbled on the windows in white wash-off paint.
At that moment De Villiers realised just how close his community really was.
The new Bok coach had switched off his cellphone before entering the Bok press conference and turned it on only later that night when things had calmed down. On his voicemail was a message from Jake White, wishing him all the best.
I ask De Villiers if he spoke to any of the other contenders in the days that followed. “Chester [Williams] was the only one who phoned me and we had a good chat. If I had missed out on the Bok job, I definitely would have called whoever got it and said well done.”
If De Villiers had spoken to Heyneke Meyer – who he edged 10-9 in the President’s Council vote – what would he have said? “I’d have told him to get on with his life,” he replies.
De Villiers won’t divulge the details of his presentation to the coaching committee, which recommended his name to the President’s Council. “I’ve been told it’s confidential,” he says. “But I can tell you I made them a couple of promises. I promised I would do everything in my power to ensure the Boks stay No 1 in the world, and I promised to take the game to the people.”
He aims to keep his promises by playing an expansive style of rugby – the total opposite of what we came to expect from Jake White’s Boks.
“Structure in rugby came from Australia, a country which doesn’t have a lot of rugby talent,” he explains. “I believe the more talent you have, the less structure there should be. We have a massive amount of talent in South Africa and I want to give them the freedom to express themselves. I want my players to be the best they can be, on and off the field.”
I ask De Villiers whether he thinks the Boks can realistically expect to beat the All Blacks at their own game. Under White, the Boks won three Tests against the arch-enemy by dominating up front and playing to a set structure – not by throwing the ball around.
“You’ll get your answer in July [during the Tri-Nations],” De Villiers replies. “I believe we can beat the All Blacks with an expansive approach. We just need to have a positive mindset. If we can be successful with a negative mindset – as has often been the case in the past – imagine what we could achieve with a positive one.”
Another White trait was to favour tall, big backs (Jean de Villiers, Frans Steyn, Butch James etc) over pocket rockets such as Brent Russell. Can the smaller provincial player in South Africa now dream of Bok selection under De Villiers?
“Let me put it this way,” he says. “A small talented guy will always be better than a big untalented guy, and a big talented guy is better than a small talented guy. I will select the best player for the job.”
Perhaps White’s greatest achievement was to create a winning culture with the Boks. So it’s good to know that De Villiers is a very bad loser. He says he can’t even handle losing a game of marbles and doesn’t know how he’ll react if his Boks lose a Test in front of a global audience.
“The Boks play 12 Tests this year, and I want to win all 12. One loss in a season is one too many. Any defeat hurts me,” he says.
There are those who say De Villiers is in a no-win situation. If he wins every game in 2008, he’ll have done it with the team Jake built. If the Boks start to lose, he’ll be the coach who stuffed up the world champions. De Villiers, however, refuses to accept that.
“No, no, no, no,” he says loudly. “If we win all our games, it shows we’ve built on the winning culture created by Jake. If we lose, perhaps it’s because there have been a few changes and we are busy rebuilding. So I think I’m in a win-win situation.”
I’ve saved the most hard-hitting questions of the interview for last, and as they start coming De Villiers gets more agitated and his answers more evasive.
“When the Boks struggled under Jake White in 2006, his kids copped abuse at school. Have you warned your daughters what could happen if you go through a bad patch?”
“No, why would I do that? We’re only going to have good times this year.”
“When will you pick your Bok captain?”
“After we’ve chosen the first match 22 on merit. I can tell you one thing, though: one of those 22 players will be the captain.”
“Do you rate Luke Watson?”
“I don’t want to discuss Luke Watson because it will put pressure on him. Why didn’t you ask me about Gcobani Bobo? Don’t you want to know about Bobo?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then leave Watson out of this interview because he’s the same as any player to me.”
“Do you have a relationship with Cheeky Watson?”
“Definitely. I am talking to you now, so I have a relationship with you too.”
“Do you have a close relationship with Cheeky Watson?”
“I only have a close relationship with my wife. [Pause] Look, I listen to most people in life and then I make a choice who makes sense to me. Cheeky Watson makes a lot of sense to me when I talk to him. He’s a very intelligent man, and he’s a very honest man.”
“According to a newspaper article last year, you said you’d select 10 blacks in the Bok starting XV.”
“I never said that. What I told the journalist is that I don’t see colour, I only see rugby players, and I will choose the best possible Bok team.”
“If the best Bok team, in your view, is all-white, will you pick it?”
“You will never, ever in your life again see an all-white team. And you will never see an all-black team either. Each race group has different skills that complement each other.”
“According to some scientific reports, the white Afrikaner is more suited to rugby than non-white players for genetic reasons. Could that explain why 13 out of the 15 Boks in the World Cup final were white?”
“That’s absolute rubbish. Over the weekend I watched a white player [Stormers centre Corne Uys] carried off the field after being tackled by a coloured player [Boland wing Alshaun Bock].”
“How will you ensure Super 14 coaches select more black players this year?”
“I believe they will do that without me interfering.”
“Wouldn’t official quotas make more sense than this gentlemen’s agreement?”
“Quotas do more harm than good. Look what quotas have done to the crayfish industry in this country. When there are official quotas, those non-white players in the team are regarded as quota players.”
When our time is up, De Villiers breaks into a smile and claps his hands together. His PR manager, Neil de Beer, walks in and gives his client a new 2008 diary, with gold-edged pages. “Wow, look at this!” De Villiers enthuses. “It’s even got my name on it!”
As I prepare to leave, they start discussing a gala banquet to be held in De Villiers’s honour in Paarl. “I spoke to [minster of sport] Makhenkesi Stofile this morning and he confirmed he’ll be there,” says De Beer. “Oh, and Ceres is sponsoring the juice.”
As I walk down the passage, I can hear De Villiers laughing.
By Simon Borchardt
This article first appeared in SA Rugby magazine. The new issue will be on sale from Wednesday, 12 March.
148 Comments
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7 Mar 2008, 11:43 am
Cant say this article sheds any new light on the man.
Like him or dont like him- he is sure of himself, and is willing to fight. I think those are two great characteristics in a coach. You dont want an unsure double minded coach.
One can only hope for the best. He will be judged from our first test against Wales. Until then we can only speculate.
PS- Simon, i would have loved to hear what he thinks of Bobo….
7 Mar 2008, 11:43 am
I really hope De Villiers is successful with the Boks…
7 Mar 2008, 11:45 am
mmmmmm…. Ceres juice….. am thirsty now
7 Mar 2008, 11:45 am
According to some scientific reports, the white Afrikaner is more suited to rugby than non-white players for genetic reasons. Could that explain why 13 out of the 15 Boks in the World Cup final were white?
‘That’s absolute rubbish. Over the weekend I watched a white player [Stormers centre Corné Uys] carried off the field after being tackled by a coloured player [Boland wing Alshaun Bock].’
7 Mar 2008, 11:46 am
#2
Same here.
I would like us to beat the boks at there best,no excuses of a bad coach etc.
30+ great players will coached to smash each other,nothing like it really
7 Mar 2008, 11:47 am
Do you rate Luke Watson?’
‘I don’t want to discuss Luke Watson because it will put pressure on him. Why didn’t you ask me about Gcobani Bobo? Don’t you want to know about Bobo?’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Then leave Watson out of this interview because he’s the same as any player to me.’
‘Do you have a relationship with Cheeky Watson?’
‘Definitely. I am talking to you now, so I have a relationship with you too.’
‘Do you have a close relationship with Cheeky Watson?’
‘I only have a close relationship with my wife. [Pause] Look, I listen to most people in life and then I make a choice who makes sense to me. Cheeky Watson makes a lot of sense to me when I talk to him. He’s a very intelligent man, and he’s a very honest man.’
‘According to a newspaper article last year, you said you’d select 10 blacks in the Bo
Hy is nogal skerp né!!!
7 Mar 2008, 11:50 am
Amen Hurricane
7 Mar 2008, 11:51 am
#5
That is “Well coached”
7 Mar 2008, 11:51 am
The article appeared before he had officialy signed a contract. Unfortunately for him he appeared on Superrugby and some of his other ramblings about 3 SA teams in top 4 of S14 also appeared in the media.
Hope he will be more careful in future with predictions. Enjoyed his take on why Argies are nr 3 in the world.” Cause the play in Europe and France and they learn to know the opponents”, then when asked that whether it means that our guys playing in France will then have a look in for Bok selection he changed his tune to saying that it won’t be good because then our players will get to know the opposition and not have the mongrel streak in them when playing against them.
Talk about speaking with a forked tongue!!!!
7 Mar 2008, 11:55 am
Comment by Hurricane : March 7, 2008 @ 11:46 am
Yes Hurricane, can’t wait.
I for one hope we can finally beat you in NZ.
7 Mar 2008, 11:58 am
He seems like a good decent man.
However, that and politics aside, the rugby intelligence needed to be successfull at this job and outsmart people like Deans and other good coaches is rare.
We are already seeing our S14 coaches being out thought, and he will be harshly judged only on results.
Only time will tell if he has the ability to win against teams like the all blacks.
One thing is for sure, it will take a rugby brain that is thinking way beyond where we are now.
I am not sure that we have anybody left in SA rugby that has this ability.
7 Mar 2008, 11:59 am
#10
Hi wpw
Excuse me if i hope you dont beat us in NZ.
You have the damn cup dont be so greedy ok
7 Mar 2008, 11:59 am
I still don’t know what his name is.
People in Paarl and Dal Josefat, and the pump attendant at the BP gas station in New Orleans, all assured me he is known as Pieter (Afr.) over there, but lately I see the English version of his name appearing more and more…
7 Mar 2008, 12:02 pm
tight head
A very likeable man indeed, according to all accounts.
The man is worshipped in CJ.
7 Mar 2008, 12:03 pm
#11
well lets hope the Bok players are good enough to help the new coach,i think he will be fine.He has great players at his disposal,only time will tell though.
Anyways logging off later all
7 Mar 2008, 12:12 pm
Can anyone confim please ? Is De Villiers a black or coloured amn ?
7 Mar 2008, 12:13 pm
Can anyone confim please ? Is De Villiers a black or coloured man ?
7 Mar 2008, 12:16 pm
Does it matter? Classified as coloured.What matters is if he will take the Boks further and give us something to shout about
7 Mar 2008, 12:20 pm
18# daniel
Right.
( Yebo17#, I see he is referred to as a ‘black man’ in the overseas press, but for me it is neither here nor there.)
7 Mar 2008, 12:25 pm
yebo
Does it really matter?
7 Mar 2008, 12:25 pm
Contrary to what a lot of people would like to believe, some of just don’t give a **** about anything other than a person’s capabilities to perform.
7 Mar 2008, 12:27 pm
I hope that he continues with the winning culture. Good luck to you Pieter and the Boks.
7 Mar 2008, 12:30 pm
Well said Daniel.
Btw, my wife and i are expecting a son and we are seriously considering the name ‘Daniel’
7 Mar 2008, 12:34 pm
Pietman,
I think the British spelling of his name is very recent – as far back as I can remember seeing his name in print it was Pieter. Anyway Pieter looks and sounds beter when coupled with de Villiers – in a rough rugby context.
7 Mar 2008, 12:39 pm
24# Bob
Yes, that was what I thought, after talking to some locals in his neck of the woods.
7 Mar 2008, 12:40 pm
Pietman.
Sorry a bit late , but I hope you enjoyed your visit.
Good to have you back here.
7 Mar 2008, 12:40 pm
wpw
Daniel is a fine name.
Believe me, I’ve been called far worse!!!
Like the wp part of your screen name. Hope it stands for Western Province
7 Mar 2008, 12:40 pm
I once read an interview of Cheeky Watson by Chris Baron in the Sunday Times and he came across as not being the sharpest tool in the shed, by a long way.
7 Mar 2008, 12:41 pm
Three SA teams in the play-offs Peter?
Any other day dreams you want to share with us?
7 Mar 2008, 12:45 pm
tight head
Tx, was lekker to see Table mountain, Newlands and Jacobsbaai again.
Not to mention all the braaivleis, kreef, sunshine and Castle!
I slept over in Durbanville last Friday (in Chanteclaire), and was thinking of you guys.
7 Mar 2008, 12:47 pm
Daniel
Now how did i know you were going to say that?
wpw are my initals…
I do however support WP.
7 Mar 2008, 12:52 pm
And Lang Giel was never ever wrong in his life.
****, we seriously need to learn from Mr.Perfect!!!
7 Mar 2008, 12:53 pm
Thats it Pietman.
You cant attach a price to that!!
7 Mar 2008, 12:55 pm
PdV will be judged on results. Can’t wait for June. Old rules, none of this mamsy pamsy tinkerbelle nonsense.
7 Mar 2008, 12:57 pm
Hello Lang Giel!
Heng, jy was ook lank weg gewees ou maat?
7 Mar 2008, 12:59 pm
Tinker Bell might be small but she’s rof. Tink would lay down her life for Peter Pan. A sprinkle of her pixie dust can make you fly.
7 Mar 2008, 13:00 pm
Yeah, hopefully he’s a good Bok Coach…
Super 14 is a bit of a Fu*KUp!!!!
7 Mar 2008, 13:02 pm
At least he is saying positive things that mostly make sense. I think he will be fair. After hearing the report that he wished to have 10 players of colour in the national side, I was dreading the possiblity of him becoming the bok coach. I’m very relieved to hear him deny saying this. Being “black” himself, he is in a better position to defend merit selection, which he seems to be all for. Being a racial selection himself, he knows how **** it feels. I get the feeling he is so tired of being associated with the colour of his skin and not just being appraised for his contribution as a human being. I think his wish is for SA to be colour blind, unlike the stofiles of this world who use race as a tool to achieve power and personal gains. Let’s embrace the guy, get behind him and wish him well. As long as we remain fixated on race, we continue to go south as a nation.
7 Mar 2008, 13:04 pm
Simon
You start off by saying:
“Even the good times are bad for new Bok coach Peter de Villiers.”
then later you quote:
‘Even the bad times are good,’ he (PDV) says with a smile, before pulling up a chair.
Now what excatly DID he say?? Is the bad times good or the good times bad???
7 Mar 2008, 13:05 pm
I hope Mr De Villiers is a moerse success.
7 Mar 2008, 13:05 pm
It’s all goooood.
7 Mar 2008, 13:06 pm
A lot of very clever people give off signs that they are sure of themselves. But they do it unobtrusively, so that it shines through without them having to say anything. Our white apartheid policy has created what Pieter de Villiers now is, and we’ve got to live with it. Sadly, it’s also true that many very stupid people are also confident, but they manifest their self worth as arrogance, and it remains to be seen which category he falls into. But one thing is sure…..whatever he turns out to be, he was not the best man for the job. And for that reason he’s going to have to prove himself beyond anything that might have been expected from a Heyneke Meyer.
7 Mar 2008, 13:08 pm
Rachel
I think he will make it ok, he is hardegat enough not to be pushed around by lightweights like Sofiles and Komphela.
This boytjie is solid and he came through the ranks the hard way.
I have faith in him, he is a Capie after all and we never fail!
7 Mar 2008, 13:10 pm
44# ‘the Stofiles’, not Sofiles.
(Faaark, I almost made the man a Greek!)
7 Mar 2008, 13:12 pm
43 – Good. I’m really looking forward to seeing him in action with the Boks.
7 Mar 2008, 13:14 pm
it’s going to be a tumultuous ride for him. He’d better pop his protein pills and put his helmet on. Though if he fails the blame should sit with the administrators who opted for his non-merit selection.
7 Mar 2008, 13:15 pm
juiz/Rachel
Who will his assistants be?
That is the key-point right now.
7 Mar 2008, 13:18 pm
i don’t know. what are the options?
7 Mar 2008, 13:20 pm
that will be key, like you sa Pietman. Who gets to decide?
7 Mar 2008, 13:22 pm
48#
There was a list of candidates posted here on keo last week, but nobody spectacular except **** Muir, as far as I can recall.
Some names from the E-Cape also, unknown to me, and Alistair is still in the mix it seems.
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