Former All Black prop Richard Loe says that he hopes that Springbok coach Peter de Villiers remains in charge of the South African national team for the world cup.
De Villiers was in the news again this week for suggesting that IRB referees were involved in a conspiracy against the Springboks in order to generate excitement ahead of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
The Springbok coach also criticised the handling of the Wellington test, saying that he was considering coaching his team to "cheat" on the field.
"As a coach, you don't want to coach your team to cheat, but maybe that is something we are going to have to consider." said De Villiers.
South African Rugby Officials (SARU) tried to play down his comments but the administration must be tiring of his frequent slips of the tongue even more so now that the team appears to be in decline having lost to France and Ireland last year and now New Zealand and Australia away from home.
Loe however says that he hopes that," this character (De Villiers) stays in charge of the Boks until after the World Cup as I don't think he is doing them any good."
"This is the same Peter de Villiers, who said after that 3-0 drubbing of the All Blacks last year, that New Zealand had missed the boat and had not changed with the times." he told the NZ Herald.
"Hey, Pete. See that boat disappearing over there? That's the good ship 'Changed Times' - and you've missed it, brother.
"The Springboks do not appear to have worked out that the game has changed again. The previous law interpretations suited their game. The new ones don't."
"The Bok efforts against the Wallabies last night and in August-September will tell us whether the Boks can change and/or whether the Wallabies are as capable of playing the new rules as the All Blacks clearly are."
"I am shovelling a lot of the blame on de Villiers because, to me, the Springboks are not really playing cohesively or as a united force. They don't look like the Bulls, the Sharks or the Stormers in style. They look like a misguided Bok team."
"The All Blacks have taken our best players from across the five Super 14 franchises and have aligned them with an All Black game plan and an All Black style. The Boks appear to have taken only some of the best players from the Super 14 and don't appear to have adopted the style to compete at present."
"It will be interesting seeing how/if they can adapt," Loe continues.
"As for all this bleating about referees, I think it's crap. Nothing's changed. For years now, players have been penalised for head butts, spear tackles and the like."
"It's the same with head butts, spear tackles and pulling a blatant professional foul when your line is threatened. For many years now, that stuff has inevitably earned a yellow card.
"The Boks are complaining that Richie McCaw gets better treatment and Rene Ranger should have been punished for a no-arms tackle. Rubbish.
"It's like what golfer Gary Player used to say: "The harder I work, the luckier I get."
"All the Bok complaints show me is that they are not playing well enough. If they were, they wouldn't be coming under the referees' microscopes and they wouldn't be getting twitchy about penalties and the way they are treated."
"No, for me, I hope they don't sack Peter de Villiers. It'd be good to have him there for the World Cup."
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