Motormouth Springboks coach Peter de Villiers has launched another scathing attack on Crusaders star Sonny Bill Williams, describing his flamboyant offloading style as “nonsense” and a poor example for young rugby players.
By Marc Hinton
De Villiers’ latest assault on the All Black World Cup certainty comes in an interview for a South African online rugby magazine. It follows comments he made previously to South African reporters suggesting the Crusaders No 12 would be found out when he had his space cut down.
Williams, though, was brilliant in the Crusaders’ gritty victory over the Stormers in Cape Town at the weekend, cutting the competition’s best defence open with his offloads, ball-strips and power running.
De Villiers told the “union sports mag” that he has not been impressed with Williams’ play.
“I hope he will mature his game,” said de Villiers. “He’s doing everything wrong what rugby principles require of you in the game.
“Backhand passes shouldn’t be the norm… it has become the norm, now everyone wants to do that kind of nonsense.
“This kind of non-rugby stuff he’s doing, if it comes off it’s brilliant, but do you have control over these kind of things? If you get to the international level where people work you out, then you have to be in control of what you’re doing.”
De Villiers said a youngster watching Williams in Super Rugby would get the wrong impression of the core skills needed.
“He’ll spend hours and hours on the things that are not important and never master the most important things of rugby.”
Asked if he’d worked Williams out, de Villiers said: “If you close down his space, put pressure on him and hit him hard, and if you don’t dance around with him like he does, then no way…”
De Villiers’ comments should, of course, be taken in context. The Boks coach has long been renowned for verbalising his bizarre thoughts, and it just may be that he has identified Williams as a clear threat to his team’s World Cup defence later this year.
If he said it, then he is an idiot.
@ Loosehead:
Sometimes i think Peter watched too many Leon Schuster movies. What he says gets the same reaction as Leon gets when he pranks people with a snake. All scattering around, jumping , hopping and going crazy and then he sits back laughing.
net een ding,kyk hoe baie hol sbw met die bal in een hand
@ superBul:
He reminds me of Julius Malema. Perhaps they share the same speech writer?
He is a moron.
What we should be saying about SBW is NOTHING.
Here comes a player who introduces skills to the modern game that have not been seen before and this moron dismisses them as bad for the game.
@ tight head:
Funnily enough is SBW not exactly the type of player that PDV spoke about when he presented his vision to the interviewing committee when he got the Bok job?
😀
come-on peter,
the boxer boxed
and
the dancer danced … just leave it at that!!
Eish, The PR nightmare strikes again.
Let’s hope SBW doesn’t annihalate us in the 3N and RWC.
It wouldn’t make PdV the laughing stock of world Rugby because he already is.
Can’t we kidnap him and surgically remove his vocal chords?
scrumdown @ 8
😆 😆 😆
@ Scrumdown:
Blame Rassie, he is suppose to do the talking now, OOo he talks with color coded lights and the press dont understand him either.
@ Scrumdown:
Could be messy op though. ‘Cause I reckon his vocal chords sit nearer his rectum than his brain the amount of sh1t that he speaks.
“Everyone has a right to be stupid. Some people just abuse the privilege.”
So bek kort … ‘n slot !
@ bdb:
12
Bhahahahahahahaahahah great my Bulls mate
@ superBul:
Leon Schuster – A master of comic timing….I really must watch some more You Tube Schuster clips, to remind me how greatful I am he is not on British TV !! 🙂
@ Blue Bird:
You enjoy his pranks?
@ superBul:
Not really a ‘slapstick’ kinda girl!! 😆
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