Frans Steyn says he is done with De Villiers
South African Springbok Frans Steyn has said he will no longer player for Springbok’s head coach Peter De Villiers. Steyn says that De Villiers was supposed to meet with him and his current club, French side Racing Metro this week, but failed to show.
Steyn was recalled to play with the Springboks in their final two matches of the Tri Nations against Australia after going through a well publicised battle with De Villiers.
De Villiers had requested Steyn join the club for their Test against New Zealand, however Racing Metro said he was not clear to play, after suffering an injury in practice. When the Springboks requested the medical records, Racing refused to send them. However,
Steyn was in the Springboks' line-up for their next engagement against Australia.
Nevertheless, Steyn maintains that De Villiers was supposed to meet with himself and Racing Metro before this all happened so they could discuss the possibility of loans, but he never did.
The latest refusal of De Villiers to meet with him and his club seems to have put Steyn over the edge. In an interview with French paper
Midi Olympique, he said: “He (De Villiers) was supposed to come to Paris on September 18. He cancelled the meeting. It’s not the first time he has done that. It’s a lack of respect for Racing Metro, a lack of respect for me. I don’t expect anything
from the Springboks anymore. I have moved on.”
All this hostility came in the wake of a comment De Villiers made at the beginning of the year, stating that players who play in Europe are worse than the ones who stay at home in South Africa. De Villiers chose to add more fuel to the fire while going through
the battle with Racing Metro by questioning whether Steyn was proud of his heritage and whether or not he truly wants to play for his country.
In the end it seems that De Villiers has gone too far and may have lost a very capable back before the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
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