FORMER SOUTH AFRICA rugby union head coach Peter de Villiers has claimed successor Heyneke Meyer needs to pick more black players.
Meyer has had an inconsistent start to his tenure as South Africa’s head coach with two wins, two draws and two defeats from six Tests and with the Springboks third in the Rugby Championship, the 44-year-old is under pressure to improve his team’s form.
De Villiers, who was the first non-white coach of South Africa’s national rugby side, has added to the rising unrest by arguing Meyer does not pick enough black players.
“It’s just the little things that bother me,” De Villiers told Ballz Radio. ”We need to know in what country we do live and at this moment we are turning a lot of black people against ourselves by making the team white and nobody will talk about these things but I just have to … actually we’re breaking up our country again.”
The Springboks have lost their past two Rugby Championship matches to drop below Australia in the overall standings. Meyer started three non-white players in South Africa’s 21-11 defeat away to New Zealand on Saturday; Bryan Habana, Zane Kirchner and Tendai Mtwarira, while Juan de Jongh was on the bench.
But De Villiers argues that is not enough.
“We do have a lot of great (black) players who can make a difference,” the director of rugby at the University of the Western Cape said. ”You have Gio Aplon, here in Cape Town, who can make a hell of a difference.
“You’ve got Juan de Jongh, an exciting player who can make a difference. We never played (Siya) Kolisi, who’s now injured; he was never given a chance.”
De Villiers believes Meyer’s selections are making South Africa’s black majority anti-rugby.
“We’re turning all the black support against the Springboks,” De Villiers said. ”Wherever I go I hear people talking negative about the Springboks.”
