Peter de Villiers has never been one to go quietly into the night.

After he parted ways with SA Rugby, on acrimonious terms like pretty much every coach in recent history, he wrote a tell-all book called ‘Politically Incorrect’.

It was full of swipes at his former employers, and it’s clear that his indignation remains as strong now as it was when he was sacked.

During an explosive press conference, where Peter was unveiled as Zimababwe’s new coach, the Citizen reports that “the motormouth former Springbok coach goes ballistic with accusations”.

Some of his more volatile quotes below:

“I am so glad to be the new Zimbabwe coach, it gave me comfort because I am not welcome in my own country, so I am leaving. The first thing I will do when I get to Zimbabwe is sing the national anthem, because they want me there. The Springboks don’t want me.

“I got a call from the Zimbabwe Rugby Union to say there is a problem, SA Rugby say I am blacklisted and they cannot appoint me. When Boland wanted to make me coach, someone from SA Rugby offered them R2 million not to appoint me, and a union like that cannot afford to say no to that sort of money”…

“As Springbok coach, I knew what I had and how to utilise the players. My biggest disappointment was that Allister Coetzee and Heyneke Meyer never made the time to talk to me so I could share my experiences of how badly I was treated with them”…

Not a happy camper. In his defence, the fact that SA Rugby falls out with every coach points to massive problems in the upper echelons of this country’s rugby structures.

In response to Div’s tongue-lashing, a spokesman for SA Rugby said “his allegations are completely untrue and we congratulate him on his appointment”.

When he eventually decided to focus on his goals for the country he now coaches, Peter made it clear that next year’s Rugby World Cup is priority number one:

The first item on De Villiers’ new agenda will be to qualify Zimbabwe for the 2019 World Cup, with the Sables currently sitting fifth out of six teams in the standings. The top team qualifies automatically, while the second-placed side goes into the repechage…

“I know it’s going to be extremely difficult, the job is bigger than the Springbok job because 95% of the people in South Africa expected me to fail. In Zimbabwe, the pressure to be successful is so much more and I don’t want to damage their hopes. But I laugh in the face of danger.”

Yes, he laughs in the face of danger. I think it might also be his middle name.

I fear for anyone who thinks that the Zim job is bigger than the Bok job, but Peter has always been his own man.

In case you’ve missed his rather unique press conferences, here’s a little video of his efforts yesterday:

[source:citizen]