Birmingham – Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer canvassed the opinion of his players before making a call on whether to retain embattled captain Jean de Villiers and says he has done so because to drop him would have adversely affected the team chemistry and morale.
Meyer said the players “to a man” want De Villiers to lead them into battle against Samoa on Saturday in a game that will sink or revive South Africa’s World Cup hopes. The 34-year-old has been struggling with form since making a comeback from a 10-month injury lay-off.
“It has been a tremendously difficult time for Jean and myself,” Meyer said. “If you lose it is always the coach and captain that are criticised. To drop or keep Jean was one of the most difficult decisions of my life and I made sure I had the opinion of a lot of relevant people before making the call.
“You are almost in a lose-lose situation because if you don’t pick your captain and you lose, people will say you should have picked your captain, and if you do pick your captain and you lose, then you shouldn’t have stuck with your captain,” Meyer mused.
Meyer said his decision had been helped by his recollection of the controversy over the dropping of captain Gary Teichmann by coach Nick Mallett before the 1999 World Cup.
“I was involved in Nick’s coaching staff at that World Cup,” Meyer said. “When Gary was dropped (for Bob Skinstad, who was carrying an injury), some people said it was the right thing but when the Boks were knocked out, the chief criticism was that Teichmann had not been there to lead the team. It is always easy in hindsight, but I have never forgotten that drama over Gary.”
Meyer said that he had thought long and hard about who is the right person to lead a team in what is going to be just about open warfare given the abrasive way in which the Samoans traditionally play against the Boks, and the games are inevitably spiteful affairs.
‘My conclusion is that I need a team of fighters,” he said. “I had a long chat with Jean and he said he just wants serve his country and for the team to win, even if he is on the bench. I decided that if we are going into a battle where the whole country is relying on you for victory, I want to have a guy that has shown courage in his whole career.
“Jean badly injured his knee in his very first game (in 2002) and has gone on to play in more than 100 Tests despite having had six knee operations.”
Meyer pointed out that medical opinion on his last knee injury was that he would not play again.
“He proved everybody wrong, only to break his jaw in his comeback game, but he is back again,” Meyer said. - The Star