A former Springboks boss has hit back at the 'lies' being spread about his time spent with the Welsh Rugby Union taking his coaching exams.
Media claims circulated on the weekend that Peter de Villiers was no longer a candidate to take charge of the Southern Kings in the Guinness PRO14, reportedly because he doesn't possess of the necessary coaching credentials.
Afrikaans newspaper Rapport suggested that de Villiers was not in contention for the role due to not possessing a Level Three coaching certificate.
This is despite the fact that de Villiers was head coach of the South African side for four years.
But subsequent proof emerged to suggest that de Villiers acquired his Level Three credentials in 1996 through the Welsh Rugby Union.
When asked about the rumours surrounding his qualifications, de Villiers said: “I don’t know what people hope to achieve by spreading such lies, because the adjudicating committee have proof of my qualifications including my international Level Three coaching qualification.”
De Villiers achieved a 62% success rate with the Springboks and his act was to take South Africa to the quarter-finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
It's all a far cry from turning up in Wales in the 1990s to learn more about rugby.
“I went over there because I liked the style of rugby Wales played, with the JPRs and all those talented players,” he said.
“I just wanted to get myself on the same page as them.”
And John Prince, who was assistant Welsh Rugby Union technical director at the time, remembers seeing de Villiers standing on the touchline at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff when he was conducting a course for 16-18-year-olds.
"It was on a Friday and there was this black guy standing on the touchline who I didn't know from the man in the moon," Prince told the South Wales Argus.
"He asked me whether he was far from Usk where he was going for a Level Two course which I told him I was actually taking.
"He told me he had nowhere to stay so I took him home and he stayed with me in Blaenavon and I took him out to Usk the following day.
"A couple of years later he came back and did the Level Three course.
"He stayed with me again for two weeks, I took him around and he began to look the part. I told him one day he would coach the Springboks, but it didn't really enter my head that he would get the big job."
