Boks will be ready for World Cup, vows de Villiers

SOUTH AFRICAN coach Peter de Villiers feels his side’s dreams of retaining the World Cup next year have been boosted by their campaign in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Springboks boss was upbeat, and certainly not feeling deflated, despite seeing his men lose 20-26 to a Barbarians side full of Wallaby and All Black stars at Twickenham at the weekend.

The defeat ended a 2010 year full of turmoil on and off the field for de Villiers and his world champions, who were beaten in five of their six Tri-Nations matches, and saw dreams of a first ‘grand slam’ in 50 years disappear with a shock 17-21 loss to Scotland last month.