Craig Dowd calling Pieter de Villiers 'a puppet' has blown all out of proportion, turning into a racial thing - orchestrated of course, by the ones who are most sensitive to these issues, the South Africans, and, dare I say it, in case I get tagged racists too, the darker hued South Africans.

Yes, Puppet de Villiers has called the comment racist, and asked for an apology.  That last refuge of the weak, of a man with no idea on how to defend himself, no idea what he is doing in fact.  If you have nothing left, no leg to stand on - pull the race card, and then everyone usually runs for cover.

Well, in the current South African climate, that might work, but not here in New Zealand.  Dowd has come out with an apology of sorts though, apologising if the comment caused him any hurt, but not apologising for the comment itself, for calling him a puppet, and fair enough.  There are no racist connotations in that comment - he is just calling de Villiers a puppet, it does not matter what colour his skin is, he is still a front man for the racist South African rugby board, and he just happens to be black, and happens to be a puppet.

Perhaps Puppet de Villiers is a little sensitive to the issue of his appointment, as the reason for his getting the coaching gig actually was the colour of his skin, and he is hyper-sensitive to anything that could look to be saying that.  SO what he heard from Dowd was 'black puppet'.  But he is a bit slow on the uptake, with South African rugby themselves being the first one’s to publicly make that statement, Hoskin’s admitting the coaches appointment was based on satisfying transformation requirements (read "get more colour into the SA rugby system, good enough or not), not on merit alone.

In fact, perhaps world rugby should ask for an apology from South Africa for appointing de Villiers in the first place.  As the the appointment appears to be not based on his skills and record, but on the colour tones of his skin.  Again, do I dare say it, a racist appointment? 

The world severed ties with South African sport in the 80's for race issues, perhaps the world needs to take a stand again?

Read more on this on the forum.