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De Villiers has the breakdown blues

Tuesday 19th August 2008

De Villiers: Wants more meetings with refs

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has called for regular pre-game meetings between the coaching staff and the appointed referee in a bid to eliminate any confusion surrounding current breakdown rulings that hampered the Boks in their 0-19 loss to the All Blacks over the weekend.

With consecutive losses to Australia and New Zealand, the Springboks are in the back seat of the Tri-Nations championship now and must bounce back against the Wallabies in Durban this weekend.

De Villiers believes Australian Matt Goddard was inconsistent in South Africa's two Tri-Nations Tests that he handled this season, especially at the tackle point.

De Villiers was careful not criticise, but admitted that every referee will interpret the laws differently. It is this inconsistency, however, that he believes makes it so difficult to prepare.

"It's an unfair contest at the moment," De Villiers told a media gathering in Cape Town.

"You almost have to become illegal to be legal.

"It's hard to go that way because then a different referee could bring out a yellow card for your players. At the moment the players and the referee are not on the same page."

De Villiers successfully managed to set up a meeting with refereeing officials before the Dunedin Test after grumbling publicly about the All Black scrum.

New international laws prohibit that but IRB referee boss Paddy O'Brien relented that time.

"It's an IRB rule, but I don't know why we can't discuss these things before the game," said De Villiers.

"Both coaches should be there the day before a game to speak to the referee.

"These days, there are so many different interpretations of the laws. All you want is clarity from the ref. You want to know before hand, you want him to tell you, 'This is how I see it'."

The Springboks are under pressure because a third consecutive defeat in the competition will be another blow to their reputation as World Cup champions.

De Villiers' side who lost to the All Blacks at Newlands on Saturday are the first Springbok side ever to be white-washed on home soil in 98 years of Test rugby.

The Bok coach has punted a new style of rugby that has been met with mixed success so far, proving effective against some of the lesser nations but the South Africans have struggled to implement it successfully in the Tri-Nations.

De Villiers says the players need to believe in this gameplan, but execution is so crucial to its success.

"I'm kind of caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, but we can't back off now. We're at 60 per cent of where we want to be so we have to bite the bullet and see if we can get there," he said.

"In playing total rugby, there is going to be a fear factor. But we have to make sure we control other areas as well.

"We are never going to take our eye off our goal. If we are distracted by small things how the devil can we win a Test?"

Questions about the captaincy of Victor Matfield have also surfaced since last week but De Villiers was not getting too deeply into that debate.

He was unwilling to respond to questions whether the Springboks were missing John Smit's leadership.

"Anyone can hold that opinion. We'll only know if he plays," said De Villiers.

"I can't comment on it now. The player who is there (in Smit's position) has my support.

"They are different characters. They have different things in which they are good."

De Villiers will announce his Springbok line-up to take on Australia at Absa Stadium in Durban on Tuesday.

Beast Mtawariwa and Bismarck du Plessis were both sidelined on Monday afternoon, Du Plessis from the start of the session because of "bumps and bruises" and Mtawarira during the practice.

Juan Smith did not train because he is away tending to his wife who has given birth, while Bryan Habana is injured and definitely out of Saturday's Test.

De Villiers said he will make a decision today (Tuesday) on whether or not to call for more wing back-up.