Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile says Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers should watch his mouth, Sport 24 reported on Thursday.
The report said Stofile labelled De Villiers as a man who liked to talk, and blamed the South African Rugby Union (Saru) for the bizarre comments made by the Springbok coach.
”They appointed him as a coach and not as a spokesperson.
”Now he is being left to the mercy of the media.”
However, Saru’s Andy Colquhoun, communications manager, denied this, saying that De Villiers had a media spokesperson. ”It is the same system that was in place with previous Springbok coaches.”
Stofile said De Villiers is a ”nice young man but he likes to talk. It could mean that he is not judged on his achievements on the rugby field, but on his achievements with his mouth.”
His comments came after De Villiers refused to condemn South African flanker Schalk Burger after he was yellow-carded for gouging in the second Test of the Lions tour.
De Villiers then appeared to condone the act as part of rugby.
Burger received an eight-week ban after the game.
In its response, Saru said it hoped that De Villiers would improve in this regard after SA Rugby boss Oregan Hoskins had spoken to him.
Stofile also criticised the Bok team for their decision to wear protest armbands during last Saturday’s final Test against the British and Irish Lions.
This was in reaction to the suspension of lock Bakkies Botha. Botha was banned for a dangerous charge on Lions prop Adam Jones in the second Test.
The report quoted Stofile as saying that kind of reaction would make South Africa look like cry-babies in the eyes of the international community. The website said the minister stated that rather than react, the Boks should have left Saru to handle the matter.
Regarding De Villiers’s regular use of biblical references, Stofile, who is also a preacher, said the Springbok coach was from the Boland and was raised in a God-fearing family.
”His own family is very religious. His own quotations from the Word are used as his guide and are therefore appropriate,” Stofile said in De Villiers’s defence.
Support
Under fire for his strange utterances, allegedly racist statements and controversial Bok selections, De Villiers received support from an unexpected quarter this week — National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel.
In a letter to Business Day editor Peter Bruce, Manuel took Bruce to task for a comment that De Villiers ”just isn’t up to the job”.
The Springboks lost dismally to the Lions in the third and final Test on Saturday, but, as Manuel pointed out, still won the series 2-1.
”What matters in sport is the result. Surely what matters in respect of the Springbok coach in this instance is that, unlike so many of his predecessors, he scored a series against the British and Irish Lions?
”Perhaps more importantly, I would invite the editor, who’s not the sports writer, to compare De Villiers’s results with that of his predecessors and only then arrive at a studied conclusion about his fitness for the job,” wrote the former finance minister. — Sapa