Take up ballet and get tutus, SA coach taunts ‘soft’ Lions
SOUTH AFRICA head coach Peter de Villiers yesterday further inflamed the eye-gouging row with the British and Irish Lions, accusing them of being soft and suggesting they swap rugby for ballet.
De Villiers also reiterated his defence of Schalk Burger after the flanker escaped with an eight-week ban for clawing at Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald’s face in the Springboks’ series-clinching win on Saturday.
Burger’s behaviour, and the decision of referee Christophe Berdos to show only a yellow card, incensed the Lions, with scrum-half Mike Phillips and head coach Ian McGeechan voicing their disgust.
But De Villiers yesterday hit back at the criticism of his team’s approach, which hospitalised five Lions, suggesting the tourists would be better suited to more genteel pursuits.
“Rugby is a contact sport and so is dancing. Guys who can’t take it, let’s go to the nearest ballet shop and get some tutus,” De Villiers said. “If we’re going to make it soft because we want a safe series and people don’t like it, I can’t do anything about it.”
De Villiers’ refusal to condemn Burger after the match riled McGeechan, who declared himself “very disappointed” by his opposite number’s comments.
But even after the No6 received an eight-week ban, which rules him out of the weekend’s final Test and half of the Tri-Nations series, the Springbok stuck by his man.
“I have watched the television footage, and I am still convinced that nothing he did was on purpose,” De Villiers added. “He is an honourable man.”
De Villiers, however, later appeared to back down on his comments, saying: “It was never my intention to suggest that I condone foul play. That is the last thing I would ever do and I apologise for that impression.”