Cape Town - In an interview with Union Sports Mag discussing the launch of his new book Politically Incorrect, former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has revealed why he chose John Smit ahead of Bismarck du Plessis at hooker.

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In the interview, De Villiers explained that big coaching decisions aren't always so straight forward.

"If you understand high-performance coaching, if you really understand it, then you will understand that some of the logical things in sport, aren't very logical when it comes to a team sport," explained De Villiers.

"The person that can make the best contribution will be the person who will get the job," De Villiers said.

Although De Villiers acknowledged that Du Plessis was the better player, he still believed starting Smit was the right choice, to show loyalty to the team and keep their trust.

"Bismarck, at the end of John's career became a better rugby player, but John became the best person to have around the team because he inspired players who wanted an environment of trust and integrity to perform at their best," De Villiers explained.

"When I look back at it, we were so blessed with two great hookers and we used their abilities to suit the team and it made the team better in the end."

In June this year Zebra Press will publish De Villiers's autobiography which he wrote with sports journalist Gavin Rich. As the title, Politically Incorrect, suggests, this book will provide a no-holds-barred account of the difficult decisions De Villiers had to make during his tenure as Bok coach.


Peter de Villiers autobiography