Beast clarifies Divvy comments
REACTION: Much has been made about Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira’s comments about former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers in the Bok prop’s book entitled ‘Beast’.
In the book, there is a passage where Mtawarira’s comments could be described as critical of de Villiers.
“He [De Villiers] was a fantastic coach of the Junior Springboks, but I think at the high level, he was probably lucky that a very good group of players was handed over to him,” Mtawarira says in the book.
“His methods and approach didn’t really work with the Springboks, and as players, we had to be careful what we said to the media.
“What you said would get back to Peter and affect your place in the team. The media did not like Peter, and thought he was a bit of a clown.
“There’s no doubt that he was happy to be at the forefront of a team that could operate on its own steam. Most of the work was done by the players, with Dick (Muir) and (Gary) Gold (Bok assistant coaches) very influential.”
However, Mtawarira and the book’s publisher have released a joint statement saying the above comments from Mtawarira was taken out of context.
Hey guys a lot has been said/insinuated the last few days regarding my soon to be released book.
Here’s a joint statement from myself and my publisher @PanMacmillanSA . Have a good evening pic.twitter.com/iTaHsKbZBD
ADVERTISEMENT— Tendai Mtawarira (@Beast_TM) June 18, 2019
Meanwhile, in an interview with Robert Marawa during the Marawa Sports Worldwide programme on Radio 2000, De Villiers said he was saddened by Mtawarira’s comments.
“If you look at how I fought to actually get him citizenship in South Africa, and how I fought to get him to be selected for this team, and how I fought for his teammates to accept him for who he was… It’s sad to listen and see this kind of stuff,” De Villiers said.
“But then again, I understand it. I do understand that we allow ourselves to be controlled by either outside forces, or money, or power and all those kinds of things.
“So ja, I just hope for him to get well soon (from injury), so that he can actually fight for a place in the World Cup.
“He was a No.8, he had some ball-sense. Very quiet – you couldn’t use him as part of your senior group because he had that mentality of ‘submissiveness’, if you can call it that, coming from Zimbabwe. They always… everybody else is better than them.
“Some players weren’t actually happy that he was there, but I could see something in him. I could see that there’s a lot of potential that we have to fulfil. It took hard work and belief to get him there.”
Additional source: Marawa Sports Worldwide (Radio 2000),
