{"id":712369,"date":"2026-07-26T18:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/712369\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T18:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:25:08","slug":"springboks-legend-fourie-du-preez-issues-brutal-putdown-to-ex-bi-lions-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/712369\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks legend Fourie du Preez issues brutal putdown to ex-B&I Lions star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Springboks<\/a> legend Fourie du Preez has admitted he \u201cdidn\u2019t enjoy\u201d facing the chirpy Mike Phillips but ultimately had the last laugh against the former Wales and British & Irish Lions star.<\/p>\n

The two regularly locked horns during their careers, but the most fierce contest came in 2009 when the Lions visited South Africa.<\/p>\n

Remembered as one of the greatest series ever, it was the Boks<\/a> who eventually came out on top, claiming a 2-1 triumph over the famous touring side.<\/p>\n

Du Preez and Phillips contrast<\/p>\n

Du Preez and Phillips were the starting scrum-halves for all three Tests in what is regarded as one of the most physical and intense contests in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

That sometimes spilled over with both teams coming together and the Welshman was never far away from those scuffles.<\/p>\n

His approach was in contrast to the South African playmaker, who was not one to resort to verbal sparring with his opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was never [a chirpy scrum-half],\u201d he said on the Boks Unpacked<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t enjoy it. I don\u2019t enjoy giving me lip, I like to let my play do the talking and the guys around me, so luckily I had guys like Schalk and Bakkies who sorted him out.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, if you win I would just rather stay quiet. Against Mike Phillips, I was lucky enough to never lose against Wales, so he can say whatever he wants, he\u2019s got a zero per cent record.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks ommitted as ex-England duo pick Nations Championship team consisting of SEVEN Springbok stars<\/a><\/p>\n

Bakkies Botha v Mike Phillips<\/p>\n

While Du Preez might have been quieter than many scrum-halves, most of that Springboks side were no shrinking violets.<\/p>\n

The playmaker was joined on the show by one of those characters in Schalk Burger, who told a story about another hard-nosed forward in Bakkies Botha from that Lions<\/a> series.<\/p>\n

Burger revealed that he was worried Botha was going to get his marching orders by \u201ckilling\u201d Phillips but, in the end, it resulted in a hilarious exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cBakkies grabbed him once in that game in Pretoria in the second Test match and I was like, \u2018alright, it\u2019s going to go horribly wrong\u2019, if this is a headbutt, punch, this is Mike Phillips getting killed on a rugby field, it\u2019s written in the stars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBakkies grabbed him and then calmed down and he said: \u2018Oh my, you\u2019ve got beautiful blue eyes\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike is there thinking, \u2018what just happened? Bakkies has complimented me on my eyes\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Matt Williams: The \u2018only nation\u2019 who can match Springboks\u2019 strength and \u2018snatch\u2019 the World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Springboks legend Fourie du Preez has admitted he \u201cdidn\u2019t enjoy\u201d facing the chirpy Mike Phillips but ultimately had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3481,235978,348,3482,50,5903,4247,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-712369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-british-and-irish-lions","tag-fourie-du-preez","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}