Lame legacy for spineless De Villiers
12 Oct 2011
RYAN VREDE writes that Peter de Villiers styled himself as the puppet master for the Springboks but ended his reign as no more than a puppet.
De Villiers wanted his legacy to be about evolving the Springboks tactically and implementing meaningful transformation. He failed on both counts and will be remembered for his lack of backbone in resisting the agenda of his senior players, poor selections, technical ineptitude and embarrassing media offerings.
The Springboks crashed out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage on Sunday, equalling their worst-ever performance at the global showpiece. Defeat to Australia was neither surprising nor disgraceful, but it is a fitting exit point a coach as ill-equipped as De Villiers was.
I overheard him speaking to a group of people in the Springboks’ team hotel last week. ‘I’ve been building towards this for four years,’ he said. ‘After this I don’t want to see a rugby ball.’
He shouldn’t have seen one at Test level in the first place. De Villiers was selected ahead of a far superior candidate, Heyneke Meyer. South African Rugby union president Oregan Hoskins said the decision was motivated by the need to have a black coach. Four years later Hoskins and his provincial presidents are still in power, while De Villiers will struggle to find a job with an elite franchise and will never coach a major Test nation again.
From the outset of his tenure he positioned himself as the antithesis to former coach, Jake White. He expressed strong views on a range of subjects relating to the Springboks, most notably stressing that they would play a more expansive brand of rugby and committing to improve what he said was a slow rate of transformation under White. The former ideal was shelved after one abysmal season, the senior players, most notably Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez, engineered a shift to more pragmatic approach.
Meanwhile De Villiers window-dressed beautifully with regards to the introduction of black players, without implementing any meaningful change. The core of his preferred side was the one that won the World Cup for White. Beast Mtawarira is Zimbabwean born, Odwa Ndungane was Test impostor and Chiliboy Ralepelle still knows more about the composition of tackle bags than he does about the rigours of Test rugby.
De Villiers’ record – Played 48 Won 30 Lost 18 (62.5%) – is poor, especially since he has had the finest generation of players in some time at his disposal. Examine his record against Australia and New Zealand, the benchmark against which the Springboks should measure themselves, and his mediocrity is starkly illuminated. Four wins from 12 against the Wallabies and five from 11 against the All Blacks is utterly unacceptable.
De Villiers enjoyed great success in 2009, beating the British & Irish Lions and later capturing the Tri-Nations title. However, by that stage the puppets had realised the puppet master’s lack of aptitude in handling them. They cut the strings and reattached them to his appendages.
Those players then duly decided for themselves they had a World Cup left in them. A more astute coach would have recognised they reached the very peak of their powers – particularly in the case of John Smit, Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha. He claimed experience would be crucial at the World Cup. Experience, however, counts for very little when you lack the physical ability to execute the lessons experience has taught.
The Lions series also saw the nadir in De Villiers’ flirtations with insanity during press conferences. In the post-match gathering after the second Test he vehemently denied Schalk Burger has eye-gouged Luke Fitzgerald, despite video evidence showing he had. This incensed the travelling media contingent, who asked him about the incident once more on the following Monday, offering him a shot at redemption. De Villiers delivered a series of embarrassing rebuttals, none more so than: ‘If we wanted to eye gouge Lions, we would go to the bush, find some and do it there.’
Never must a political agenda, any agenda for that matter, take precedence over rugby credentials when selecting a Springbok coach. Those who drove De Villiers’ cause are the same men who desperately sought the assistance of Rassie Erasmus ahead of the World Cup to compensate for what their chosen one lacked in technical and tactical skill. They need to be accountable, Hoskins more than any.
However, De Villiers cannot be mitigated. He must be measured by the standards he has set. His repertoire of one-liners is impressive, his favourite being: ‘Even the bad days are good.’ On the contrary, the bad days have been very bad, none more so than in Wellington on Sunday.
By Ryan Vrede, in Auckland
Follow Ryan’s World Cup coverage on Twitter
483 Comments
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12 Oct 2011, 15:11 pm
@ufo(ufo)-346: He rose to the top of his Province in Superugby 2010, only to spend most of 2011 on the bench… Thats what I would call a set back.
12 Oct 2011, 15:12 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-344:
then your shorks should buy him.
your midfield looks like the sauce station at steers on a saturday night.
12 Oct 2011, 15:12 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-347:
hehehe… cool… i like the phrase… we all remember incorrectly from time to time…
12 Oct 2011, 15:13 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-336:
Good question.
I dont think Goosen will make that big an impression to send him straight into Bok honours. The Cheetahs will struggle with squad depth and wont do as well in 2012. He will interchange with Eberson during tournament. Too many FS talents after initial freak CC seasons have struggled in Superrugby following year namely: Mapoe,Floors,Johnson,Eberson etc They usuallly need a bit of time to settle. ANd especially with a diluted CC at present,Jantjes was very much the same this year with Lions.
Jury still out on Goosen,he is a superb talent and last time we had a 10 like him with such an impact was Gaffie du Toit.Lets do it different this time….(Aaron Cruden another one)
12 Oct 2011, 15:14 pm
@Helen(Helen)-350:
@>^..^< katman(katman)-342:
decorum is for posers who never get their lips wet…
12 Oct 2011, 15:14 pm
@Helen(Helen)-345: Best prospect that could have been a front runner for this WC if he was allowed to continue as he did in 2010 for 2011 Superrugby.
12 Oct 2011, 15:16 pm
@Gunther(gunther)-352:
Sadly they wont.Plumtree & co are banking on Marius Joubert,Terblanche.Adi and co. for their “experience”…..
Plumtree is a CC coach at best. He is a very good forwards coach but head coach…..nope
12 Oct 2011, 15:16 pm
@Gunther(gunther)-348:
Those ford cottina’s can phukkoff.
I once saw one racing a horse and winning!!!
Ok, it wasn’t a horse, more like a three legged zebra.
Alright, not a real zebra, one of those stuffed toys with black an white stripes.
12 Oct 2011, 15:17 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-344:
Yeah I like Mjekevu. If memory serves me right he scored a hat-trick on debut for the Lions in his first or second year out of school… but hasn’t played for them since.
Hopefully John picks him in the next year or so… I think he could have a big future at the Lions. I can see him succeeding there, rather then going elsewhere.
12 Oct 2011, 15:17 pm
@ufo(ufo)-355:
My lips are constantly wet! Heeha!
12 Oct 2011, 15:17 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-344: sshit, that one really pisses me off, how can van rensburg make the cut while wandile plays juniors, deon van rensburg is kak, i don’t care how one looks at him
12 Oct 2011, 15:17 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-351:
well if you call making the bok team a setback…?
okay…
so… you don’t think that willem has looked less spectacular at the sharks that he was at the lions…?
12 Oct 2011, 15:18 pm
@Gunther(gunther)-352: Fark, midfield talk from a Bulls supporter… Talk about blind trying to lead the blind.
12 Oct 2011, 15:19 pm
Has Pdivvy officially resigned – other websites are saying no ??????
12 Oct 2011, 15:19 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-356:
Better defender than Jean dV.
More unpredictable on attack.
Maybe you and I are one, after all. I seem to be agreeing with you more than I promised myself I would
12 Oct 2011, 15:19 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-357:
they would be lucky (or unlucky depending on your view) to get another season out of terblanche and jacobs.
for such a supposedly pro union their succession planning sucks.
and they could use some colour too.
they are looking whiter than a clansman’s pyjamas.
12 Oct 2011, 15:19 pm
@stew(stew)-364:
no… his contract ends in december and then he walks away…
12 Oct 2011, 15:19 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-357: Bashford and Reece need a bit of a rocket too.
12 Oct 2011, 15:20 pm
@Gunther(gunther)-348: Mocking my wheels could lead to a quick one-two decorum punch.
12 Oct 2011, 15:21 pm
@Helen(Helen)-365: Hehehe. ExtraTwat was very confused yesterday
12 Oct 2011, 15:21 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-354:
Good points.
Where I differ is I think the Cheetahs will have a fantastic season, having brought through plenty of good players in this years Currie Cup, and being able to use players like Heinrich Brussow, Juan Smith & Andries Strauss who missed most of, or the entire 2011 Super Rugby season.
If they have plenty of injuries, they’ll struggle, but at this stage I’m backing them to be one of our strongest teams.
Also that forward pack is one of the very best in the competition, so with van Zyl giving Goosen good clean ball, he’ll do a lot better putting points on the board and moving the Cheetahs up-field then Ebersohn did.
Guess time will tell
12 Oct 2011, 15:22 pm
@stew(stew)-364:
Who knows what Divvy says.
Once he tried to explain the obscure arts of skip passing and the international media reported that he has a bladder problem.
12 Oct 2011, 15:24 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-369:
a punch in the decorums?
that will put me off list making for a while.
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-363:
calm down tiger.
we were lacking at outside centre.
and now we have bought mr sadie.
you however have a midfield with a combined age of over 70.
which is coincidently the number of tackles they miss in a match.
12 Oct 2011, 15:24 pm
@ufo(ufo)-362: Making the Bok team and not having a run on start is a set back.
I also remember his debut against Wales and facing Roberts was very good.
12 Oct 2011, 15:24 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-369:
remember, a decorum punch is served in bowl and dished by the ladle
12 Oct 2011, 15:25 pm
Juan de Jongh has said he prefers playing centre…
I like him at 12 also, but I don’t believe he’s a better defender then Jean de Villiers. At the very most he’s on par.
And he’s not about to displace Francois Steyn, who looked like he should’ve been playing 12 his entire career.
12 Oct 2011, 15:25 pm
@Gunther(gunther)-373: Lacking at outside centre only?
Oh, silly me…. forgot Meisiekind was still actually playing rugger
12 Oct 2011, 15:26 pm
Where is Hugh Reece-Edwards these days?
Still coaching?
12 Oct 2011, 15:27 pm
@Helen(Helen)-378: Busy fcking up backlines with Bashford.
12 Oct 2011, 15:28 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-377: LOL now you are making me laugh
12 Oct 2011, 15:28 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-374:
not getting a start for the boks is hardly WP’s fault is it…? being at WP got him his bok selection… so how is him being at wp a setback…? making the boks is considered good progress in the lives of most young rugby players…
#justsaying…
12 Oct 2011, 15:28 pm
In Jaque Fourie, Juan de Jongh & Johann Sadie, we have 3 very good centres to pick from.
Robert Ebersohn is a talented player but not in the same league.
And anyone else shouldn’t even be in the picture.
12 Oct 2011, 15:29 pm
@Helen(Helen)-375: Dankie Emsie.
12 Oct 2011, 15:30 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-382:
what about Sybrand Janse van Jaarsveld?
up and coming
12 Oct 2011, 15:30 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-382:
if JF goes to japan as rumoured de jongh and sadie will fight it out and both will be first choice for their provinces… a very good scenario all round…
12 Oct 2011, 15:30 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-371:
Yeah but the will miss Wilhelm Steenkamp who is going back to the Bulls.He was huge in 2011.Their locks did a good job 2011 but they lack quality.
Loosefwd they are covered with 3 Boks and likes of Labuschagne,Raubenheimer,Floors they are sorted.
They will miss Sarel Pretorius big time,he scored 9 tries for them and gave them good go forward. van Zyl is decent but not in same bracket attack wise and de Bruyn is kak.Midfield is workman like and back 3 as well. They will also miss Riaan Viljoen who was huge on attack and boot-he is signed with Sharks 2012.
12 Oct 2011, 15:31 pm
@Gunther(gunther)-373:
“lem’ bosman -
———guffaws ———
12 Oct 2011, 15:31 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-383:
I want to laugh, but I don’t get the Emsie thing.
12 Oct 2011, 15:32 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-386: who is the cheetahs defence coach? he has been up to sshit as they leak a lot of tries
12 Oct 2011, 15:33 pm
At 12 (inside-centre):
Francois Steyn is the clear stand-out. HIs performances in New Zealand and desire to play 12 locks him in at that position for the foreseeable future.
Jean de Villiers is still the second best 12 in SA… but we’ll have to see how much he’s got left in the tank.
Francois Venter looks like the one who could become the understudy to Francois in the near future.
Wynand Olivier & Andries Strauss are both not quite in the same league, but underrated players. Wynand has often suffered undue criticism because of the way he’s been asked to play, which he’s actually done pretty well.
And no one else should feature, for now.
12 Oct 2011, 15:34 pm
“Lame legacy for spineless De Villiers”
Even for Keo.co.za, this is a bit over the top.
No matter how you look at his record, he is up there/on a par with some of the previous coaches of the Bok team.
Maybe South Africans overestimated the power of the Bok rugby, not only during PdV’s reign but overall. I mean, since 1891 they averaged a winning percentage of 61.15 before he took over as coach. He upped it to 61.34 now.
(According to the stats on genslin)
12 Oct 2011, 15:34 pm
@ufo(ufo)-381: Yes, but he had made very good progress in 2010… Only to then be told, your place is now to “learn” and sit on the bench…
Who knows, if he could have played 2011 as starting 12, Stormers might actually have gone one step further than they did in 2010 when he actually did start…
But we won’t know….
12 Oct 2011, 15:35 pm
@Helen(Helen)-388: They’ve got her on the google. But I’ll spare you the bandwidth. Emsie Schoeman was the Afrikaner queen of correct etiquette. Knew all about table dressings, grooming and how not to piss your husband off when he returned from work.
12 Oct 2011, 15:37 pm
@stew(stew)-380: Shhht. Transie might be reading… He might start spouting off about Sharks or ex Sharks players if we not careful…
He really loves them eg Lambie and Frans Steyn…. like bullets in the head.
12 Oct 2011, 15:37 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-386:
Brought through Marcel van der Merwe, who will be a big impact player off the bench when Coenie returns from injury.
I’m hoping Waltie Vermeulen steps up as their line-out lock. He’s not a weak link but you are right, Wilhelm Steenkamp was a big loss.
And Hennie Daniller, while not a great attacking threat, has to be one of the most stable fullbacks playing Super rugby. He looks like a lock, rarely makes mistakes and is a great defender…. which means they might not miss Viljoen too much.
I’ve got high hopes
12 Oct 2011, 15:38 pm
Go to go for now.
12 Oct 2011, 15:38 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-392:
at the time… JF and JdV were considered the best centre pairing in rugby…
but yeah… who knows… ?
good thing is that things gonna get a lot more exciting for him in 2012
12 Oct 2011, 15:39 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-389:
dont think they have a set specialist defense coach…
*cough*budget constraints*cough*
12 Oct 2011, 15:39 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-390: i’m yet to see francois steyn play 12 against the top 5 ranked nations in the world, in nz he played vs samoa, fiji and namibia – that’s hardly opposition to crow about.
in 2007 he played against a kak england, samoa, fiji, tonga & argentina – again rubbish opposition.
he hasn’t faced nonu, roberts, barnes/mccabe/faingaa, darcy, mermoz on the international arena.
12 Oct 2011, 15:41 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-393:
Oh, I get it.
Stuff like it is bad form to take a six pack to a funeral or cleaning your ears with another woman’s bakkie keys, etc.?
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