Wynne Gray: Here's hoping Hamilton is as barren as de Villiers claims

Interesting joker, that Peter de Villiers. He will be always be remembered as the first Springbok coach of colour and as the bloke who dissed Hamilton.

He kept his side on the Gold Coast because there was nothing to do in the Mooloo Megacentre and he wanted to protect his side from any negative reporting in New Zealand.

So what did they do? Get three-day passes to Wet 'n' Wild, play golf or go surfing?

Perhaps de Villiers has never heard of the left-hand point break at Raglan, the delights of St Andrews or Lochiel, the local zoo or the glow-worm caves at Waitomo.

If he really wanted to smell the flowers there is the botanical gardens, he could try jetboating, or if he was feeling a shade more cultural, he could always nip into the art gallery.

Most rugby teams remain television aficionados, iPod devotees or PlayStation experts in their downtime. It would not matter if they were in Hamilton or Hamilton Island.

As for the negative reporting bit, even though the Convicts won last week, newspapers across the Ditch find it hard to give space to rugby, especially around this time of year when the AFL and league are heading into their playoffs.

At least footy will get on the front and back pages of the local newspaper, even if the Boks do not admire some of its slant.

Before some Hamiltonians get too high on their hobby horses, they need to remember the All Blacks chose not to travel this year to Bloemfontein until a few days before the test as they based themselves in Pretoria.

Rugby teams all have ideas about how and where best to prepare for test matches. There is also the added issue in South Africa of coping with altitude.

There used to be a rule, in the days of amateur rugby, that sides could assemble only 48 hours before a game. For a few, there was just time to introduce themselves to some teammates before they strapped on the O'Briens and did their best.

Now the 48 hours before a test is spent more in fine-tuning, stretching and making sure the liquid intake and carbohydrate mix is on course.

De Villiers bemoaned the dangers of hotel fatigue and loss of focus for the Boks in Hamilton. Let's hope there is nothing for the Boks in the Tron. At least they might then trek up the motorway to the airport with praise from the Sunday papers for keeping the race to the Tri-Nations title alive.