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De Villiers' best soundbite yet

August 31 2008

If his side continues to dominate as it did on Saturday, people will perhaps come to view his eccentricities with indulgence. But until then, South Africa coach Peter de Villiers continues to dig his own pit, merely by talking.

His latest outpouring of drivel has seen the, erm, idiodsyncracy of his thoughts reach a new level, claiming his home fans are unpatriotic and comparing his plight to that of Jesus.

"If they can become patriotic and believe in what's happening in South Africa and not look for their honey outside of the borders and offer support (rather) than stomping on people who gave them hours and hours of joy last year and this year, we as a nation will grow much better," de Villiers said in response to a question about the fans who booed him in Durban last week.

"We didn't go out there to show them that they were wrong, we went out there to exactly showcase our talents and the belief that we do have in ourselves."

De Villiers has sought to change the way the Boks play, implementing a more expansive game-plan which he believes is necessary under rugby's experimental laws. By and large, the plan has failed, but it succeded in spectacular fashion in Johannesburg on Saturday as the Boks romped to a 53-8 win over Australia.

THe fans, predictably, were overjoyed, in stark contrast to last week's, and De Villiers had this to say on them:

"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 stuff like that, 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 is repeating itself, and I'm not saying that I'm God."

Just the son of God hey?