Bok coach grumbles over 'B-Blacks'

Springboks coach Peter de Villiers took a swipe at the media over what he felt was ‘double standards’, after the All Blacks were allowed to slip into South Africa with a ‘B’ team and no fuss has been made about it.

De Villiers, at a media briefing in Port Elizabeth, suggested it was double standards by the media – who had a full go at the South Africa for ‘resting’ more than 20 frontline players when the Boks toured Australasia last month.

At the weekend the All Blacks arrived in Port Elizabeth – the venue for Saturday’s Tri-Nations Test – with nine frontline players missing – including superstars Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, and hardly an eyebrow was raised.

Asked what he thought of the situation, De Villiers responded in his usual heartfelt manner.

“Well our South African media seem to be happy with their so-called B team,” De Villiers quipped, after putting his Boks through an open training session at the impressive Nelson Mandela Stadium.

“To them [the South African media] it is no big thing, but when we went over there it was big news, people wanted to kill us. It was reiterated how stupid we are as a coaching staff, but now New Zealand do the same and it is fine.

“People [in South Africa] are not worried and that is more worrying than the side they brought.”

He then played the generous host by adding: “Their side itself is full of seasoned campaigners … plenty of experience. There is never a weak New Zealand team and we are very wary of that.”