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How much will it cost to fire De Villiers?
Murray Williams
August 25 2008 at 12:09PM
SA Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins threw his weight behind beleaguered Bok coach Peter de Villiers on Monday - but sought to placate the furious fans over Saturday's rare loss on home ground to Australia.
Fans booed the Boks off the pitch in Durban after they went down 15-27 in their first defeat at home by the Wallabies since 2000.
Hoskins told the Cape Argus: "I've never seen that reaction before. This is an extremely emotional time."
But he said that contrary to the view of many commentators, De Villiers was not necessarily to blame.
"It's tough times, but support in him (by Saru) is unwavering - as difficult as the results are," he said. He supported De Villiers, the team and the new game plan.
Reports suggested that SA Rugby would have to cough up around R5-million if it wanted to sack De Villiers, but Hoskins said this was not even being contemplated.
He admitted that he was concerned, but cited the 49-0 defeat by Australia in Brisbane in 2006 as an example of why there should be no panic-driven decision to fire De Villiers.
"Imagine if we had sacked Jake White then? We have learned that that is not necessarily the best approach to take."
Hoskins vowed, though, that the public would be heeded.
"They know their rugby very, very well - probably better than any other nation on earth," he said. "We will listen to all our stakeholders and our supporters are stakeholders."
The formal process regarding De Villiers's tenure would include a full assessment after the Boks' final Tri-Nations match at Ellis Park on Saturday.
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