Former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers was unveiled as the Eastern Province Elephants senior coach on Friday.

This probably was the worst-kept secret in South African rugby as the Eastern Province Rugby Union has always favoured the celebrated but controversial coach for a position at the union. He was one of five candidates for the position.

While De Villiers has never been the ordinary person’s cup of tea‚ he’s one of SA Rugby’s most successful coaches.

When he replaced current Bulls director of rugby Jake White as Springbok coach in 2008‚ he had a shaky first year‚ but one that saw him become the first Bok coach to beat New Zealand in New Zealand since Nick Mallett in 2008.

The Boks went a step further in 2009 under his guidance when they won the British and Irish Lions series before bossing the Tri-Nations to a point where they beat the All Blacks three times that year while also beating Australia twice.

His 2010 year was colourful‚ but the national team struggled and failed to defend their 2007 Rugby World Cup title when they controversially lost to Australia in the 2011 quarterfinals in Wellington.

His last coaching gig was with the Zimbabwe national team.