Thirty-nine months ago Jean de Villiers’s tenure as Springbok captain started against England at Ellis Park, and tomorrow the final throes of his spell in charge begin in England.
That De Villiers is even at Rugby World Cup 2015 is phenomenal. That he is playing in the Boks’ opening match against Japan at the Brighton Community Stadium is near miraculous.
The skipper pushed himself beyond the limits to recover from a severe knee injury that had he sustained it 15 years ago, he would never have played again, such have been the advances in science, surgery and effective recovery programmes.
Suffering a broken jaw in his first Test match appearance in nearly a year against Argentina last month again put his World Cup in jeopardy.
And yet, here he is, leading the Springboks out in their 30th World Cup match, and in search of a third title at the sixth time of asking. Japan are one chapter of seven for De Villiers to have the fairytale ending he desires.
Coach Heyneke Meyer sprung some surprises with his selections for this encounter, and De Villiers’ inclusion at the expense of Damian de Allende was one of them.
De Allende has been one of the success stories of the season and there was some conjecture that De Villiers would be eased into action off the bench against Japan.
On that score the coach is right though – it’s better to start players returning from long-term injuries than have them on the bench. If the returning player breaks down early there is a fully fit player to cover for him while the converse is not always true.
Of course the Springbok management have dismissed any notion that players involved are less than 100% ready, but there must still be some concern over returning players to this match.
Japan and the Boks have never met, and despite South Africa showing lots of respect for the Brave Blossoms and their coach Eddie Jones in particular, anything less than a resounding Bok win would be a surprise.
South Africa:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jean de Villiers (capt), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Reserves: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Fourie du Preez, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 JP Pietersen.
Jean fighting spirit to spur Meyer’s men
That De Villiers is even at Rugby World Cup 2015 is phenomenal. That he is playing in the Boks’ opening match against Japan at the Brighton Community Stadium is near miraculous.
The skipper pushed himself beyond the limits to recover from a severe knee injury that had he sustained it 15 years ago, he would never have played again, such have been the advances in science, surgery and effective recovery programmes.
Suffering a broken jaw in his first Test match appearance in nearly a year against Argentina last month again put his World Cup in jeopardy.
And yet, here he is, leading the Springboks out in their 30th World Cup match, and in search of a third title at the sixth time of asking. Japan are one chapter of seven for De Villiers to have the fairytale ending he desires.
Coach Heyneke Meyer sprung some surprises with his selections for this encounter, and De Villiers’ inclusion at the expense of Damian de Allende was one of them.
De Allende has been one of the success stories of the season and there was some conjecture that De Villiers would be eased into action off the bench against Japan.
On that score the coach is right though – it’s better to start players returning from long-term injuries than have them on the bench. If the returning player breaks down early there is a fully fit player to cover for him while the converse is not always true.
Of course the Springbok management have dismissed any notion that players involved are less than 100% ready, but there must still be some concern over returning players to this match.
Japan and the Boks have never met, and despite South Africa showing lots of respect for the Brave Blossoms and their coach Eddie Jones in particular, anything less than a resounding Bok win would be a surprise.
South Africa:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jean de Villiers (capt), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Reserves: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Fourie du Preez, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 JP Pietersen.
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