The annual Tri-Nations tournament, pitting the national rugby teams of southern hemisphere powers South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia is now underway. On Saturday New Zealand’s mighty All Blacks, who seem not to be quite as mighty as in years past, defeated the Wallabies of Australia 22-16 in Auckland. Nonetheless, the Springboks still enter as the favorites. I can just about promise that a huge amount of the focus will be on Springbok coach Peter de Villiers going forward, both because of De Villiers’ contentious relationship with the media and because of his quirky and controversial personnel selections in the recent British Lions tour of South Africa.
De Villiers will continue to be one defeat away from losing his job for the foreseeable future no matter what successes he enjoys. There are several reasons for this: By all accounts De Villiers can be difficult to deal with. He has made some duvious choices and does not have the full backing of all of his players or the rugby administration. And let’s not be naive — De Villiers is the first non-white Springbok coach, which meant that there were some knives unsheathed the second he took the job.
