Joost van der Westhuizen still believes he is South Africa's No 1 scrumhalf - even if Nick Mallett doesn't think so. And he said the Springbok coach still has to explain to him why he spent most of the international season on the bench.

Breaking his silence over the issue, Van der Westhuizen told the Cape Times: "To this day, I don't know why I sat on the (Bok) bench. The last word to me was that it was a rotational move (to bring Werner Swanepoel into the side for the Mandela Cup match in Australia). I still don't know what I did that was wrong.

"I'm still the No 1 scrumhalf in South Africa. What a lot of people forget is that I was coming back from a knee injury.

"Werner was to have started the international season, but I had to come back a little earlier than expected because of his injury before the opening Test in East London. Had I played throughout the international season, I would've been back to my best by now."

Van der Westhuizen believes there were "outside influences" who had planned his fall from grace.

"The way I got to know Nick was as an honest and sincere person. This appeared as if it was planned," said the 29-year-old Blue Bull, who was not willing to elaborate on the issue.

Van der Westhuizen added: "These are things of the past. I still want to play for South Africa and it doesn't matter who the coach is."

Although he has had several offers, Joost would still like to remain loyal to SA rugby. "I'm very positive about SA rugby, although there are a lot of things that are wrong. I even know of top administrators in the hierarchy who believe we have too many players. A lot of players have noticed that."