Peter de Villiers discards media reports about secret training camps in South Africa - Rugby
The Springboks coach, Peter de Villiers, has turned dow speculations that his injured players are participating in a secret training camp. De Villiers cleared the matter in front of reporters on July 27 and stated that Springboks players have been rested
on solid grounds and there is no deception involved in the large scale injuries to his boys.
South African Rugby Union (SARU) has rested 21 frontline players for the opening two matches of the Tri-Nations Cup 2011 and has selected an inexperienced side for the ongoing event. This has been seen by several rugby playing nations as a ploy to rest the
first-string player by declaring them injured during the Tri Nations.
Talking to reporters at Wellington airport, De Villiers contradicted the media reports that the players left behind from the Springboks squad have been participating in some hidden training camp. He reacted to the word ‘so-called’ and said it is never an
appropriate word to use for his injured players. He added that, “So-called is not the right word to use, they're injured. We know that the long Super 15 season is the cause of this and we just have to abide by that. They're not training. It [the report] doesn't
surprise me because there's always mischief everywhere.”
Peter de Villiers further said that injuries are an undeniable part of rugby and every team has suffered from it in the past. Earlier, when SARU revealed the long list of its injured players, Australian Rugby Union suspected Springboks were resting their
players tactfully for the Rugby World Cup 2011. South Africa had use the same move before the last world showpiece and remained quite successful in keeping their players fresh and ultimately managed to capture the crown.
De Villiers, when asked about resting his key players, became aggressive and said he has come with best available side to the event. He stated that, “What do you mean by best players? The guys here at the moment, they performed in South Africa, in Super
15. There's a few guys who didn't make it that were also the best in Super 15. So best is a relative thing.”
The Springboks have lost the inaugurating game of the Tri-Nations to the Wallabies by a humiliating margin of 39-20 and will play their next match of the event against the All Blacks on July 30.
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