Not so happy hooker
Published: 30/07/10
Source: ©The Cup is Coming Home
By Marty Braithwaite
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Former Wallabies hooker Brendan Cannon has been mortared after describing Springbok coach Peter de Villiers on Australian television’s Fox Sports as a clown and implying he was a puppet.
Cannon’s outburst followed de Villiers extraordinary tirade against the referees who controlled his side’s recent TRI-nations test match losses against New Zealand (and preceded the further defeat against the Wallabies).
Earlier, also on Fox Sports, de Villiers said that he had his own observations about the tests “and maybe I can’t say it in public, but we do have a World Cup in New Zealand next year and maybe it was the right thing for them to win the games so they can attract more people to the games next year.”
Obviously unperturbed that de Villiers should ignore his own advice not to comment in public, Springbok management delivered Fox an ultimatum that, unless an apology was received over Cannon’s comments, the broadcaster would lose all on-air access to South African players or management.
While Fox has confirmed that Cannon would deliver an apology in the pre-match build up to the match broadcast between the Wallabies and Springboks last Saturday night, no such reflection has been forthcoming from de Villiers.
On the contrary, he has suggested he might need to coach his team to cheat if they are to overcome the refereeing inconsistencies he believes they have suffered this season.
“As a coach, you don’t want your team to cheat, but maybe that is something we are going to have to consider,” he bleated after the second test in Wellington.
