On Sunday he said it was the end of the road. Now he says he’s not resigning. Make up your damn mind, Peter.
Ever controversial Springbok coach Peter De Villiers has moved to clarify comments that seemed to suggest he was finished as coach of the South African rugby team.
Following the soon to be dethroned World Champions’ narrow loss to Australia on Sunday, De Villiers gave an emotional press conference which seemed to suggest that his four year reign as coach was about to come to an end.
Asked if his career was over following the game, De Villiers replied: “I think so. It was a brilliant journey … There’s a time to come and a time to go. So I think the journey for me is over.”
Speaking on the Springboks return to Johannesburg yesterday, however, De Villiers had changed his tune quite dramatically.
“No, I never resigned; I was just saying it was the end of the road. It’s logical, I have a four-year contract and I’ve known all along that this day would come,” he said.
“I will live and die by that contract, which ends in December and then I won’t have a job.
“After the match I didn’t feel in control. People want security and I was the only coach at the tournament who didn’t know his future. But the writing is on the wall, I will read it and move on,” he added.
If, as he suggested, De Villiers does move on in December, he will be missed. Always a colourful character, he often said the first thing that came into his head without thinking.
Perhaps the most memorable example of this trait came after Schalk Burger was accused of gouging Luke Fitzgerald’s eye on the Lions Tour in 2009.
De Villiers’ response?
“Why don’t we go to the nearest ballet shop, get some tutus and get a dancing shop going? (Then there will be) no eye-gouging, no tackling, no nothing and we will enjoy it!”
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
