Boks' drinks offer declined

Johannesburg - Springbok coach Peter de Villiers suggested that the Irish players probably didn’t like South African beer as the controversy over the refusal by British & Irish Lions players to share drinks with the Springboks earlier this year became a hot topic of debate.

Bok skipper John Smit revealed in his newly released autobiography that an invitation to the Lions to share drinks after the first two Tests was declined.

De Villiers was asked whether it had ensured that there was bad blood between the teams prior to Saturday’s match against Ireland at Croke Park. He downplayed the situation.

“The bad blood thing is something you guys [the UK and Irish media] came up with,” De Villiers said at a news conference. “We extend an invitation to every team after a game to come join us in the dressing room for a beer. The Lions never accepted. Maybe they don’t like South African beer.

“There was nothing extraordinary that happened on the field that would warrant this ‘bad blood’ thing. Most reports have been overhyped. The media over here (in Ireland and Britain) are just looking for things to pick at.”

There was also a suggestion that the match would be especially physical, but De Villiers again dismissed those claims.

“The physical thing is something that’s also blown out of proportion,” De Villiers. “You show me a rugby game that’s not physical. If you took physicality out of it, what would the game be?

“If anyone loses they are going to be disappointed, and they’re going to feel great if they win. We don’t all have the same mental approach though, and so some people will move on right away after a loss, while some may take two or three days to recover.”