Delightful Div’s back in international rugby

Peter de Villiers is an international coach once again, with his appointment as Zimbabwe’s national team coach. His immediate goal is to try and get Zimbabwe to the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Should he be successful then he will coach against the Springboks and All Blacks, who are pooled with the Africa 1 winner.

Namibia are favourites to qualify but Zimbabwe in the recent Gold Cup came close to upsetting Namibia in Windhoek. And that was before any involvement from De Villiers, who is sure to add to the international aspirations of Zimbabwe.

It didn’t take De Villiers long to add his specific brand of descriptive to the occasion, calling his first press conference as Zimbabwe coach ‘the greatest day of his life’.

De Villiers coached the Springboks between 2008 and 2011. His Springboks won the 2009 Tri Nations and also beat the British and Irish Lions 2-1. However, his Boks lost to Australia in the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarter-final.

De Villiers’s Boks won 30 from 48 Tests.

Zimbabwe’s Sables’s first game under De Villiers is on June 16.