Sydney - Under-siege South African rugby coach Peter de Villiers continues to wheel out the gems, likening himself to a "clown" after a run of three defeats to open the Tri Nations.

Which is ironic considering the Springboks demanded former Wallaby hooker and Fox Sports rugby analyst Brendan Cannon publicly apologise for using the same term to reference the controversial coach prior to their Tri-Nations Test in Brisbane last month.

Though you couldn't fault De Villiers's honesty, it was a strange choice of terminology for the Boks coach as he answered fans' questions in the latest South African Rugby Union electronic newsletter, Bokzine.

De Villiers has been criticised for some of his media comments during and after the back-to-back defeats to the All Blacks and one-off loss to the Wallabies in Brisbane, and faces a SANZAR disciplinary hearing on Friday over a televised assertion in Australia that his team had been caught up in a World Cup conspiracy in New Zealand.

De Villiers has been roundly bagged since returning from the unsuccessful Tri-Nations tour and answered a fan question in the newsletter about how he handled the criticism.

"I was always saying the greeting 'even the bad days are good' and there have been some bad days just now, that we can't deny," De Villiers answered.

"But I keep myself motivated because I believe in this team and what we are doing and know that we have the answers within ourselves to the problems that we had overseas.

"It's not like other years where we were bad and had no solutions in sight - we definitely know we can beat anyone in the world when we fix the small things that add up to a bad defeat.

"As for the criticism, I have had it since before day one! But it goes with the territory - a winning Bok coach is a superman; a losing Bok coach is a 'clown', I've learnt to take both with a pinch of salt. But thanks for your support."