I'm not a man who believes in luck, fate or any of those other invisible forces people proclaim have an influence over their lives.

But even I had a little chuckle when I almost bumped into South African coach Peter de Villiers at the Springboks' hotel in Hamilton yesterday. I swear he knew I'd criticised him when he looked into my eyes.

I've found that when I've had a go at the Springboks in the past - be it the team, individual players or de Villiers himself - a wave of South Africans come out of nowhere to defend their countrymen.

And I'm glad there are passionate people willing to do that.

And you know what? I may even ease up on the Springboks in the future after yesterday's press conference by Victor Matfield and John Smit.

Whenever you read a story, be it on the internet or more traditional means, you lose the emotion of what's been said.

Sure a journalist may put in the occasional 'laughed' instead of 'said' but you don't never get the full sense with the written word.

And to do full justice to yesterday's media event you'd have to watch the whole thing in full and unedited.

There was humour - particularly when Smit spoke about sharing a room with Richie McCaw (he wanted to push the single beds together - but only as long as the other person took the bath, he assured us).

And when a quick South African journalist asked Matfield if he had any comment on the suggestion that he was only human the assembled press roared loudly.

But there was also the serious and the poignant.

When Smit spoke about the importance of a test match in Hamilton given the cancellation of the game during the infamous 1981 Springbok tour you really understand just how far South Africa has come as a country.

And how important rugby has been in that transistion from racist state to a rainbow nation.

And when he spoke eloquenty about the difficulties of adjusting to life as an international tight-head you understand why he's still around despite his dip in form.

Matfield was equally impressive when he talked about how it felt to becoming the most-capped Springbok against the All Blacks.

Although he did provide one of those bizarre moments when he said: "It's just awesome to think I was a little girl wishing one day I would be at a stadium to watch the All Blacks do a haka."

Cue head-scratching and wondering if it was satirical dig at hermaphrodite runner Caster Semanya or just a mistake that any true journalist wouldn't publish. Oops.

But back onto other things. When Smit was talking about McCaw he said spending time with the All Blacks captain was good because it meant spending time together just as blokes, not opposing captains.

Yep, they're just normal people like the rest of us. But sometimes it's easy to forget that when you only see them on television on the rugby field.

Okay, I can't resist having a final little dig here. We can debate all day long about whether de Villiers is an effective coach, a poor communicator or just a wee bit nutty.

But as long as the senior players who have a real sense of what the Springboks are about and stand for stay around they are going to be a force in world rugby.

Let's just hope they don't show it too much tonight!