SPRINGBOK coach Peter de Villiers was always going to have a tough time being a black man in a sport some regard as their sole preserve as white South Africans. There is no question that he has had to navigate deeply seated racialprejudices in his time.

SPRINGBOK coach Peter de Villiers was always going to have a tough time being a black man in a sport some regard as their sole preserve as white South Africans. There is no question that he has had to navigate deeply seated racialprejudices in his time.

It is no coincidence that despite his successes as a coach - he has just won a series against the British and Irish Lions when it had been 29 years since the Boks prevailed over the team made up of the entities comprising the British Isles - he will always be accepted grudgingly by some sections of our rugby fraternity.

It is therefore vital that he learns to protect himself from what is emerging as his Achilles heel - his loose tongue.

South African rugby needs De Villiers to succeed if it is to emerge as a truly national pastime and not a narrow race obsessed sport.