De Villiers plays down ‘bad blood’ fears

SOUTH AFRICAN coach Peter de Villiers has scotched suggestions that there will be an element of bad blood between his players and some of their Irish counterparts this Saturday.

In his recent autobiography, Springbok captain John Smit claimed that there was an “unnecessary amount of niggle, chirping, pulling and pushing” during last summer’s Lions series.

The front row forward claimed that was attributable to the tourists’ decision to reject an offer of post-match dressing-room drinks which meant that the relationship between the sides was “never better than hostile”.