Springboks boss set for performance review

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers will come face-to-face with his employers in exactly two weeks time for a review of the performances of his embattled team.

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) have confirmed an evaluation of the national team and its head coach will take place on September 28.

The Springbok boss is facing mounting criticism in the wake of a mediocre 2010 campaign in which the world champions lost five out of 10 Test matches – all of which came in the recently concluded Tri Nations where the team turned in their worst display in the competition’s 15-year history.

James Stoffberg, head of SARU’s technical committee and vice-president of the union, confirmed they will meet with De Villiers in Johannesburg at the end of the month.

“For anyone that has anything to do with South African rugby, high performance is very important,” he said.

“Sport is about winning. The Springboks are now third on the world rankings.

“We are very serious about putting in place a support base to enable South Africa to win next year’s World Cup tournament.”

The evaluation, which is in place after every tournament or tour, is also likely to look into De Villers’ off-field behaviour.

He recently showed support for Bees Roux – the Bulls rugby player arrested and charged with the alleged killing of a Pretoria policeman – while comments regarding referees early in the Tri Nations landed him in hot water.

But Stoffberg did not divulge whether the two issues would be on the agenda.

He continued: “It’s easier to become champions than to stay champion.

“South Africa did not have a good Tri Nations. If you aren’t evaluated, you won’t be able to identify where you are going wrong.

“Rugby is a team game and you can’t blame one person for a defeat.”

He said that SARU will go into the meeting with an open mind, but hoped they would emerge with a direct plan on how to tackle the year-end Grand Slam tour to Europe.

“It’s not just about criticising,” he added in Rapport. “The mistakes that have been made need to be rectified. We also have to build on our strengths.

“We need a pro-active plan in place for what we want on the tour at the end of the year and next year’s World Cup.

“It does not help if we only start thinking about these issues in January next year.”