News

Overseas-based Boks get green light

April 24 2008

Re-elected South African Rugby Union (SARU) president Oregan Hoskins has given new Springbok coach Peter de Villiers the thumbs up to select overseas-based South African players.

Hoskins this week made public his sentiment about the issue of overseas-based players by stating that he gave the assurance during his meeting with the SA Rugby Players' Association that there will be no limit to the number of overseas-based players in the Springbok team.

Hoskins said it depended entirely on the national coach and on whether he wanted to make use of them.

It may be that De Villiers doesn't need the core of players overseas, but he at least has the option to pick those abroad if he considers them better than local talent.

Meanwhile, De Villiers says the Springboks can beat the All Blacks at their own game this season and that he will select players on merit rather than racial lines.

Talking about bringing a fresh approach to the Springboks' game, De Villiers said that he was planning an unbeaten season in his first term in charge of the World Champions.

"I promised I would do everything in my power to ensure the Boks stay number one in the world, and I promised to take the game to the people," he told SA Rugby.

Keeping those promises will be tough but he believes they can be achieved by playing an expansive game.

"Structure in rugby came from Australia which doesn't have a lot of rugby talent," he said.

"I believe the more talent you have, the less structure there should be. We have a massive amount of talent in South Africa and I want to give them the freedom to express themselves. I want my players to be the best they can be on and off the field."

When asked if he realistically expects to beat the All Blacks at their own game, De Villiers doesn't back down.

"You'll get your answer in July. I believe we can beat the All Blacks with an expansive approach," he said.

"We just need to have a positive mindset. If we can be successful with a negative mindset - as has often been the case in the past - imagine what we could achieve with a positive one."

De Villiers' World Cup-winning predecessor, Jake White, enjoyed considerable success over New Zealand coach Graham Henry's teams in South Africa - winning three of five encounters.

But White never beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, losing all four tests in his four years in charge.

This season the Springboks play the All Blacks in Wellington, Dunedin and Cape Town - placing huge pressure on De Villiers' theories.

De Villiers has had a chequered coaching career and has never been in charge of a Super Rugby franchise. He was an assistant at the Bulls in 2001 when they finished last in the Super 12.

"You don't have to be a pilot to fly from Cape Town to Durban; you can be the co-pilot too. You still get to your destination safely," he said.

He did spend three years coaching the Falcons in the Currie Cup but his greatest successes have been at age-group levels.

He led South Africa to third place at the 1999 Under-19 World Championships, repeated that result with the national Under-21 side in 2004, won the world title the following year and finished second in 2006.

Last year, De Villiers was a coaching consultant to Western Province before he later guided the Emerging Springboks to win the IRB Nations Cup in Romania.

As for De Villiers' race or background playing a part in his selection thinking, he believed quota systems did more harm than good.

"I don't see colour, I only see rugby players and I will choose the best possible Boks team," he said.

"You will never, ever in your life again see an all-white team. And you will never see an all-black team either. Each race group has different skills that complement each other."