Rugby:South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has attempted to defuse a row over comments he made about the Irish referees favouring the All Blacks in the first two Tri-Nations tests for the benefit of next year's World Cup.
De Villiers was upset with the refereeing by Irish officials Alain Rolland and Alan Lewis in the two Springboks defeats in New Zealand and unhappy that a third referee from Ireland had been selected for Saturday's test against Australia in Brisbane.
"I've got my own observations about the last two tests, and I can't say it in public," the coach said on Australian television on Wednesday. "But we do have a World Cup in New Zealand next year, and maybe it was the right thing for them to win the games so they can attract more people to the games next year."
In statement released this morning by the South Africa Rugby Union (SARU), however, de Villiers denied "in any manner" suggesting the All Blacks were being favoured by officials because New Zealand was hosting the 2011 World Cup.
"While I have also expressed unhappiness over some refereeing issues, this is a separate matter altogether and has no bearing on what I said," he said. "My comment during ... the interview was based on the general view that part of the success of any World Cup event rests on the fact that the host nation has a winning team. Nevertheless, I regret that this may have created the wrong impression."
The row had threatened to overshadow the Springboks’ build-up to tomorrow’s meeting with Australia in Brisbane but captain John Smit insists the players remain fully focused on registering their first win of the tournament.
“I think it’s probably helpful that we don’t have too much time to get involved in the papers and websites when we’re losing,” he said. “I’m not too sure what’s going on and the only task we can really give ourselves is fixing what goes on the field.
“As players there’s always going to be side-shows, but our job is pretty simple to get it right on the field.”
Adding to the scrutiny on the underperforming Springboks has been the significant media focus on their aggressive gameplan. But despite the visitors missing two of their first-choice players to suspension, Smit says labelling his side as dirty is unfair and does no justice to their world-class calibre.
“I think if bashing was the only strength we had we wouldn’t have achieved all the things we have over the last three or four years,” he said. “Sometimes you have to bash it, but not all the time. We’ve got to make sure we play the way we can and then we’ll have a fair chance of winning tomorrow.
“They’ve got a huge amount of talent and certainly they’ll be wanting to tick the home-win box as well, which is important. There’s two teams pretty desperate for a result for different reasons, my hope is that we get it right and they get it wrong, but they’re a team with a huge amount of potential and a number of threats on attack.”
According to the Wallabies camp, open side flanker David Pocock could be the key to their chances of victory as he is the only genuine ball-gatherer on the field. Pocock established himself as a genuine world-class forward against the Springboks during the corresponding Tri-Nations match in Brisbane last year, and against the physical South Africans his influence will be vital.
Australia skipper Rocky Elsom was another predicting a dominant showing from Pocock at the breakdown.
“He’s performed really well so far this year,” he said. “He’s the only genuine on-baller out there and he’ll do a really good job of that.”