THIS is the week in which the SA Rugby Union (Saru) took Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers to task for his strange and sometimes racist utterances in the company of, and also directed at, the media.

THIS is the week in which the SA Rugby Union (Saru) took Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers to task for his strange and sometimes racist utterances in the company of, and also directed at, the media.

Saru's management committee has mandated Saru president Oregan Hoskins, to speak to the coach, who has alienated himself from the South African and overseas media and, in the opinion of some foreign pressmen, ridiculed himself and "embarrassed" South African rugby.

It is indeed a pity - and something that Hoskins will probably address - that De Villiers declined the opportunity for "media training" to make his relationship with the press a happier one. That would have prevented the reluctance of the media to ask him questions that are now increasingly being directed at his captain, John Smit, or other panel members at press conferences.

The under-pressure coach has often been quick to accuse journalists of racism when he comes under fire. But much of this criticism comes from writers who are not white, as pointed out by website planetrugby.com's Danny Stephens: "Three columnists in the past week have written critical reviews of him, not one of them white, all of them concerned at his non-sporting agenda." - Sapa