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Peter de Villiers launched an extraordinary defence of his tactics as he hit back at the "racist" critics who blasted him over the basic errors which almost cost South Africa the First Test. Having seen his team dismantle the Lions scrum, the Springboks head coach initiated a bewildering series of replacements on Saturday.
Hard man Bakkies Botha and centre Jean de Villiers were brought off midway through the second-half and they were soon followed by captain John Smit, fellow prop Tendai Mtawarira, who was doing all the damage, and scrum-half Fourie du Preez.
The switches unsettled the Springboks as they conceded two tries in the last 12 minutes and almost gifted the Lions another three before hanging on for a 26-21 victory.
De Villiers was blamed for the collapse but ahead of Saturday's Second Test in Pretoria the under-pressure boss is refusing to buckle, defending himself and his men.
The first non-white to coach the Springboks, De Villiers suggested that criticism directed at black scrum-half Ricky Januarie, who came on for Du Preez, was evidence of lingering racism in South African rugby.
"Ricky made one blunder but so did a few other players, too," said the coach. "What I've learned in South Africa is that if you take your car to a garage where the owner is a black man and he messes up then you'll never go back to that garage again. If the owner's a white man you say, 'ah, he made a mistake', and you go back.
"And that is how we live our life in this country, some people."
Du Preez lacked match fitness after being dropped by the Stormers during the Super 14 season but De Villiers insisted it was right to play him.
"If I listened to 43 million opinions, I believe I would be lost," said De Villiers. "I'm not concerned."
South African fans pinpointed how close De Villiers pushed the team towards defeat by his strategy which Smit made clear he did not support. The captain came back for the final four minutes to replace substitute prop Deon Carstens who had a shoulder injury, although there is a belief he was told to get off the pitch to allow the captain back on.
Smit said: "I was quite happy to get back on the field for those final minutes even though it wasn't part of the plan. I needed to calm the ship and be quite frank with the players that needed to get their hands on the ball because we had given so much possession away in the second half. We won a key line-out, forced a penalty and won."
De Villiers certainly knows his own mind when it comes to dealing with sceptics and having been told that his replacement strategy had angered many, he said: "I heard the papers went mad. Do they know we won the match? We've taken 12 years to beat the Lions and if we beat them by one point or 20 points it does not matter.
"I was replacing Springboks with Springboks, not with schoolboys. I made the decision to substitute them because I felt we needed to inject some pace and energy into the game.
"Looking back, I maybe took too long to make the changes. But again, I'm very happy we won the game."
De Villiers , in trying to explain himself, put the blame on those replacements by highlighting the fact they were capped players and should have done better. The obvious counter argument is that they shouldn't have been on the pitch at all.
De Villiers will be concerned about the fitness of Schalk Burger, the brilliant back-row forward who missed the First Test with a calf injury that the whole of South African rugby knew would keep him out of the game.
The coach, however, chose to spend his final press conference before the Test telling anyone who would listen that "60 per cent" of what the team were planning to produce revolved around Burger, who could be back on Saturday.
Boys on tour
The Lions have rallied round Phil Vickery following his battering by the Springbok front row in Saturday's First Test. However, the goodwill was in short supply when the players, including Wales hooker Matthew Rees, decided to relax with a few games of pool at the team hotel. London Wasps prop Vickery said: “How bad is this week becoming — now I have lost to Matthew at pool!”
Reader views (8)
Sad when Raciscm is used as an excuse.
The mans comments and choices were not top shelf, either with his available players or when dealing with the press. The eye gouging interview was so bizarre that I could not believe I was watching it.
- Jimmy, Ulm,Germany
This is a quote from the captain John Smit before the Lions Tour: 'Whether it takes five tries to win or five penalties, we have a team to do both,' said Smit. 'With the influence of Pieter and the coaching team, we expect to pose a bigger threat than at the World Cup. Based on this, it appears that the captain has a positive perception of his coach, and not only of the team.
As outsiders (non-players), why don't we stop assuming that he does not have the commitment and respect of the team and allow the players (who actually knows) to comment on his ability as coach. Even though concern for their position might be a stumbling block for them to speak freely, these type of info always has the tendency to leak out. It most certainly would have leaked out by now if the players have been unhappy with him, instead I hear the captain saying positive things about him. Try and get some comments from the U-19 SA team players whom he took to World Champions status and you'll hear that he is revolutionary as coach. Our criticism as 'non-eloquent' speaker might be justifiable as we hear him speak, but as inefficient coach is uncalled for, as we were never coached by him.
- Manfred, Wolfsburg, Germany
PDV is an idiot and was clearly not the best coach available in South Africa. Heyneke Meyer should have got the job on merit, every rugby person knows that. PDV has repeatedly made an idiot of himself in the Press, then does it by nearly butchering a Test match through poor substitution calls, wonderful to see the quota system in action.
- James Ritchie, Oyster Bay Cove, NY
So all the international commentators who questioned his substitution policy is racist? Does that include Jeremy Guscott and Lawrence Dallaglio or was Peter De Villiers only referring to SA's local media?
Is it my imagination, or is his comment quite a slippery rope...? Maybe Peter is using the generic defensive technique of South Afria's ruling classes?
- Larry, London
it is difficult to understand his comments as after the game he admitted making a mistake.
- P Campbell, Port Elizabeth South Africa
So that's it. Anyone who disagrees is a racist.
- Jamal Akhbar, Edinburgh
So what he's basically saying is: "You can't criticise me, because if you do then you're a racist".
Dear oh dear. If his country's still so racist, how did he get his position of high-power again?
It seems to me that in sport the South Africans, like the Aussies, love victory above almost all else - regardless of the colour of the man that hands it to them. Win and they'll love you, fail, or look like you'll fail, and you'll be vilified.
I can't see colour coming into it...
- John, London
Good old Peter's choice is failure / near failure at any cost - it seems he is one of the very few people who chose to continue living in the apartheid timeframe.
- Clive, Shortlands Kent
