January 9, 2008 - 11:06PM

Peter de Villiers was named today as the first black coach of the South African rugby side, succeeding the World Cup-winning Jake White.
De Villiers, 50, was chosen from a short list which also included former Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer, former White assistant Allister Coetzee, and Chester Williams, a winger from South Africa's 1995 World Cup winning squad.
De Villiers spent 2007 coaching the Emerging Springboks after taking the South African under-21 squad to the final of the IRB Under-21 World Cup.
AP