Durban - Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids and prop Steven Kitshoff had to be at their diplomatic best in Sydney on Monday when they were asked about the Faf de Klerk-Nic White incident and illegal tactics used by the Wallabies during their win in Adelaide.
The rugby world was shocked by scrumhalf White’s theatrical dive after De Klerk aimed a slap at him while the referee did not pick up things like the Wallabies “walking around” in the set scrum and an armless charge by Marika Koroibete on Makazole Mapimpi as he closed in on the try line.
“I would not like to elaborate on the decision (to yellow card De Klerk),” Davids said, trying to dodge that bullet. “Our team must just learn to get past those situations. We are quite happy with the discipline of our team at this stage. In terms of penalties conceded before this game, we had conceded the least in the Rugby Championship.
“We never try to do (bad) things with intent, we have moved on from the (Faf) incident and learned a lot from it.”
The subtext of that answer is surely that De Klerk got a dressing down. Yes, White behaved badly but De Klerk should never have given him the stage on which to perform.
It would be surprising if De Klerk is retained at scrumhalf for this week’s match in Sydney after his petulant action put his team under unnecessary pressure.
Kitshoff was asked about the gamesmanship that the Aussies traditionally and cleverly get away with whenever they play the more physically powerful Springboks.
“Let me choose my words carefully ...” Kitshoff smiled. “Look, we as a team want to play the game inside the law book with as much aggression, power and speed as possible and never look for shortcuts ... but what happens in the game is that the teams are trying to get the upper hand as much as possible, and what goes down is all about refereeing interpretations.
“I am not going to comment on them getting away with certain tactics or tricks, we just want to play a great Test match and we can’t wait for Saturday.”
IOL Sport