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The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has demanded an apology from former All Black Craig Dowd over comments he made about Springboks coach Peter de Villiers.
SA Rugby released a statement last night noting "with shock and disgust" Dowd's description on Wednesday of de Villiers as a "puppet" and questioned his credentials to coach a national team.
De Villiers, 51, was named South Africa's first black coach six months ago. He was a surprise selection by a majority board vote to replace World Cup winning coach Jake White.
He suffered his first loss as coach last Saturday when they went down 8-19 to the All Blacks in Wellington.
In an interview with Newstalk ZB, Dowd said "while the Springboks have some good staff, de Villiers is merely a puppet".
SA Rugby chairman Mpumelelo Tshume was indignant about the remarks from the former All Blacks prop.
"Mr Dowd's comments are not only deeply and personally offensive to Peter de Villiers and SARU but also comically ill-informed on the affairs of South African rugby," Tshume said in the statement.
"We trust he will show rather better judgement in having the good grace to apologise to Peter de Villiers and to the South African rugby community for the profound offence and hurt he has caused."
South African Honorary Consul Gregory Fortuin also called on Dowd to apologise yesterday.
Fortuin said he had the utmost respect for Dowd's achievements and ability as an All Black prop, but found his personal attack on the Springbok coach "offensive".
Dowd played 60 tests from 1993 to 2000.
De Villiers played halfback during the apartheid era and moved up the coaching ladder to guide the South African under-19 and under-21 teams.
The latter team won the 2005 world championship and reached the final a year later.
Upon announcing the new coach in January, SARU president Oregan Hoskins did little to downplay speculation de Villiers' appointment was a political one: "We have made the appointment and taken into account the issue of transformation when we made it. I don't think that tarnishes Peter, I'm just being honest with our country."
De Villiers made it clear from the outset that race would be irrelevant in his player selection process.
- NZPA
