In the relatively short time he has been coach of the South African national rugby team, the Springboks, Peter de Villiers has made a real impression on the world's media, but often for all the wrong reasons. All part of his masterplan for world domination, or simply a consistent failure to engage his brain before opening his mouth? You decide...
Peter de Villier's philosophy of coaching:
"There's little difference between winning and losing, except you feel better after winning".
I doubt the South African rugby administrators are quite so lassez faire about winning!
On narrowly winning the first test against the British and Irish Lions on 20th June, despite enjoying a healthy lead for most of the match:
"I heard the papers went mad. Sorry for them. 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".
Perhaps he does care about winning after all.
All Black rivalry
Here's what he had to say in his pre-match interview before playing the All Blacks at Newlands in Cape Town, which the Springboks lost 19-0:
"If you look at the Bible and see how Joseph got out of the pit and ended up in the palace, but between the pit and the palace there was a moerse lot of kak."
Perhaps Peter shares some of Joseph's prophetic abilities?
And here's what he had to say on another occasion, when the Springboks managed to beat the old foe:
"We went wild, wild, wild - some of the guys went wilder than that."
Life in South Africa
"I believe life within your own country is sometimes a burden because you have to face it every day, but when you go outside your borders, you see it is actually worse."
So, not all that bad then?
"If I listened to 43 million opinions, I believe I would be lost. I'm not concerned about Ricky's form. Look, if you go to a black mechanic and he doesn't fix your car, you don't go back. If you go to a white mechanic and he doesn't fix your car, you go back and make sure he fixes the problem. What I am saying is give Ricky a chance."
Who says racism in rugby is dead? Strange attitude for the first non-white South African rugby coach to hold though...
God complex?
I firmly believe coaching the Springboks is the hardest job in world rugby because of all the off-field politics that's involved; so naturally a thick skin and oodles of self-belief are a necessity:
"If I'm the weakest link then we are bloody strong. I'm a God-given talent. I am the best I can be. I know what I am and I don't give a damn."
But Peter stops short of equating himself with Jesus Christ:
"The same people who threw their robes on the ground when Jesus rode on a donkey were the same people who crowned him and hit him with sticks, and were the same people who said afterwards how we shouldn't have done that, he's the son of God. So that's exactly what we do. You have to look at history as repeating itself. And I'm not saying that I'm God."
And sometimes no-one has a clue what he's on about:
"What we try to tell them is when you point your finger into the sky, don't concentrate on the finger because you'll miss all the heavenly glory out there. Concentrate on the heavenly glory you can bring and make yourselves so fulfilled."
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