Kings the wrong way to go – Snor

Peter de Villiers made two very interesting statements: one concerning the Kings, the other how Saru runs rugby.

Kevin Ritchie, Cape Argus.

De Villiers said the Kings, the 6th franchise trying to force its way into the S15, was indicative of the broader malaise.

Led by Watson, they are the descendants of the Spears De Villiers started with four players and no budget in 2004.

“Then they said we are costing them too much money, so they shut us down. Now we’ve got a franchise that there is no room for, into which they are pumping millions.”

EC rugby needed to be developed because 60% of SA’s black players came from there – buit the Kings are not the answer.

“If you want to introduce rugby, make sure every S15 team plays a game there. If you want to develop talent, let it run its natural course, not by buying in players from elsewhere. If they gave black players the chance they would be the best there could be.”

He said imposing the Kings for political reasons could irreparably harm the game in this country.

“We don’t have enough (quality) players to justify it. Instead of creating a vehicle to develop and keep the best black players in the country, we’re making a team for the 7th, 8th, 9th best white players who don’t have anything left to give.

The team’s inability to be competitive would make them the laughing stock of the game in the Southern Hemisphere.

POLITICS

De Villiers partly blames himself for the breaking down of the relationship with Cheeky Watson, who with Frolick, former ANC sports portfolio chairman Butana Komphela and the Soweto club’s dr. Asad Bhorat and Mike Stofile, were once his gretest supporters for the top job in SA rugby.

He also says Frolick and Watson had been behind the sex tape smear.

“Cheeky didn’t expect me to be so strong,” he said of his decision to stick to John Smit and not make Luke Watson captain.

Komphela too would turn on De Villiers, demanding he be fired by Oregan Hoskins. He claimed this was after his own father had a run-in with an ANC candidate before the elections, and his daughter speaking to a friend at the DA table during the elections.

Hoskins also turned on him.

“Six months before the RWC he was already negotiating with Heyneke Meyer. He didn’t have the guts to tell me – I learnt if rom TV. That’s not the way to run things.

“Is this a multimillion-rand industry, are the right people managing it?”

De Viliers added that it is everyone’s duty to support Meyer.

►This was an interview before the publication of his book Politically Incorrect.