Simnikwe Xabanisa: In the aftermath of the Springboks' 49-0 defeat by the Wallabies in 2006, I was granted an audience with Jake White in his hotel room.

He was in the process of changing to attend a post-match function, so it wasn't a particularly great interview.

But the emphatic message to come out of it was that he wasn't going to quit and "let some other guy win the World Cup with my team".

If you were to ask his successor Peter de Villiers the same question, the answer would probably be obscured in some unnecessary references to Bees Roux, black and white mechanics, and something about lifting a leg.

But I suspect he, too, wouldn't want someone to go and defend the World Cup with his team.

De Villiers and his bosses at Saru are probably alone in thinking that.

Everybody seems to want De Villiers out, and the adverse results haven't exactly glossed over his utterances, which have gone from quirky to just plain daft.

The main reason given as to why he should go is that he can't coach and relies on the cleverest players ever to coach the game, John Smit, Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez.

As the coach of the latter two players at the Bulls, Frans Ludeke is in a similar boat to De Villiers, yet nobody passes disparaging remarks about his coaching.

Other than Ludeke having a cap on his quirkier utterings, what's the difference? Ludeke also loses a few games when his key players are missing.

White has suggested that he is the answer - but is he?

The Boks have moved on from the young team that needed somebody to tell them what to do every step of the way. If anything, they have become quite accustomed to chirping about how they want to play.

Besides, White has carefully managed his reputation by doing no real coaching since winning the World Cup so he can constantly be judged on past victories.

The simple truth is that nobody knows 100% how things will turn out. White, for all his bravado at the time, certainly didn't in 2006.

What can't be denied is that the Boks' standards have declined.

While his comments mean he can't readily be associated with the expression, De Villiers has shown common sense before by allowing the Boks to play a game that suited their ability better.

Should that be the case again, he should take the first opportunity to expand on the observer status he granted Heyneke Meyer ahead of the Wallabies game at Loftus by asking him to be his consultant.

What the Boks need - more than a complete overhaul - is a few outside voices, as they erroneously appear to think they have all the answers.

In their two defeats at home, they showed that they still have the intensity to unhinge the All Black game, and the character to overhaul a massive deficit. Now for the dodgy defence and conditioning.

If we're being fair, De Villiers's overall record has earned him a shot at the World Cup.

Whether he cocks it up with another ill-conceived comment is entirely up to him.