Peter de Villiers

Peter de Villiers (born 3 June 1957 in Paarl ) is a former South African rugby union player and current coach of the South African national team.

Career

De Villiers played during the apartheid era as a scrum half for the Griquas and Boland Cavaliers. Because of his skin color, it was not possible for him to be used in the national team.

In 1996, he began his coaching career at amateur club Tygerberg Rugby. In 1998 he was an assistant coach at Western Province. When he assumed the post of head coach for the U19 national team, which he led for the third place at the World Championship. In the years 2002 and 2003, he led the Falcons in the Currie Cup.

In 2004 he was hired as coach of the U21 national team in South Africa. He led the team to a third, second and first place at the World Championships. Because of these successes, the South African Association as coach of the Emerging Springboks, the national reserve of signed him. He won with this selection, the Nations Cup.

After the title of the " Springboks " at the 2007 World Championships the head coach Jake White resigned from his post, so that a successor had to be found. The association decided to de Villiers, who had previously coached no Super -14 team or one of the large regional teams in South Africa. He was the first " black " coach of South Africa. This caused some controversy, as the association stressed that the decision to de Villiers was also due to his skin color.

The first tournament under the leadership of de Villiers was the Tri Nations 2008, South Africa which closed last. The November tour, however, was a success, as the team was able to beat all the British teams. In summer 2009, South Africa won the series against the British and Irish Lions with two wins and one defeat. In the same year with the national team, he managed to win in the Tri Nations.

In his short tenure de Villiers caused much controversy. So he put the New Zealanders after a defeat in South Africa that they would cheat. During the Lions tour, he defended his players Schalk Burger, who was banned for eight weeks after the Lions player Luke Fitzgerald reached into his eyes.

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