South Africa’s sports minister urged outspoken Springbok coach Peter de Villiers to get a spokesman after another controversial comment infuriated officials, media reported yesterday.
“Goodness man! Get yourself a spokesperson!” Afrikaans daily Die Burger quoted South African Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile as advising the embattled coach.
“Even I don’t always understand what he says,” he added.
De Villiers sparked outrage last week for saying the Springboks extended “100 percent” support to Jacobus “Bees” Roux, a Blue Bulls prop forward accused of beating a Pretoria policeman to death.
“It’s disgraceful to say that you support someone 100 percent when he possibly took another person’s life in such a brutal manner,” Stofile said.
The minister said he had advised the embattled coach, who led a disastrous Tri-Nations campaign to end bottom of the table, to get a media spokesman at his appointment in 2008 to coach the two-time world champions.
“I repeat that request today. With the kind of questions the media asks, I said that he would be sorry about something he said one day. You need special skills when talking to the media. And Peter is a man who loves to talk,” he said.
“Today we are embarrassed and angry about what he said,” he added. “Peter, please don’t expose yourself to the media like that.”
SARU president Oregan Hoskins has said the Boks’ woeful Tri-Nations performance will be reviewed this month and that formal discussions will be held with the coach over his comments.
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