Munster tradition swayed my decision to join, says de Villiers

JEAN DE VILLIERS claims he is looking forward to making himself part of the Munster ‘family’, citing the province’s tradition as a powerful motivating factor in his decision to join.

The Springbok centre took in last Friday’s 19-17 pre-season win over Sale Sharks at Musgrave Park as part of a flying two-day ‘familiarisation’ visit.

And he says he’s looking forward to building on that good start when he links up with his new team-mates following the conclusion of the Tri-Nations.

“I think Munster are a fantastic club – if you look at their track record, they’re a competitive team that wins trophies,” de Villiers told the official Munster website.

“They’ve got a lot of heritage and tradition that goes with the club, and for me those are very important, as you need that stability in your team to be able to perform.

“Obviously, there’s also the quality of players they’ve got ... they were the sort of things I was looking at (when deciding which club to join).

“I’m just really fortunate to be part of this family and hopefully I can contribute to making the team a success.”

Munster continue their pre-season campaign against London Irish at Musgrave Park tomorrow night (7pm), with Peter Stringer amongst a group of six returning international players in action.

The vastly experienced Irish scrum-half will be joined by Denis Leamy, Mick O’Driscoll, Tony Buckley, Niall Ronan and Denis Hurley as the Exiles up the pre-season ante by naming 12 internationals in a squad of 28.

Denis Fogarty is another experienced player coming into the squad for the first time this season alongside recent signing Felix Jones. The former Irish under-age star is certain to be given a run.

Coach Tony McGahan will also have to plan without Nick Williams, who twisted his knee in last week’s win over Sale.

Williams faces a further scan later this week and may yet even have to undergo corrective surgery on the injury, the latest in a succession of blows since his arrival from New Zealand last season.

London Irish were crowned Middlesex Sevens champions last week, and will include England’s international brothers Delon and Steffon Armitage as well as further internationals in Sailosi Tagicakibau, Clarke Dermody, Nick Kennedy and Paul Hodgson in their side.

MUNSTER (from): R O’Mahony, S Archer, F Jones, S Deasy, P Stringer, O Grace, M O’Driscoll, J Brugnaut, D Fogarty, D Ryan, D Varley, T Buckley, I Nagle, B Holland, T O’Donnell, N Ronan, D Leamy, D Hurley, D Riordan, T Gleeson, P Warwick, D Barnes, J Manning, T Morland.

LONDON IRISH: D Armitage; A Thompstone, T Homer, C Gower, S Tagicakibau; R Lamb, P Richards; D Murphy, D Paice, P Ion; A Perry, K Roche; R Thorpe, S Armigage, C Hala’Ufia.

Replacements from: C Dermody; J Buckland; A Corbisiero; G Johnson; N Kennedy; P Hodgson; J Lennard; D Danaher; J Fisher; G Stowers; J Joseph; A Lalanne; M Watson.