De Villiers ready to meet some old friends

Talk inevitably turned to the passing of time when Jean De Villiers caught up with Paul O’Connell and a few more of his old Munster cronies on Thursday.

Hard to believe, but over two years have slipped through the fingers since the South African last pulled on the red jersey and he found himself telling O’Connell about how, at one point earlier this season, he had two years more on his birth cert than the next oldest Springbok in the squad.

At 31, he isn’t exactly decrepit, even in sporting terms. And yet, he is liable to feel that little bit more grizzled when he runs out at the Aviva Stadium later this evening and sees some of the faces lined up on the far side of that red carpet.

De Villiers played 13 times with Keith Earls during his one-season stay in Ireland and shared a dressing room with Donnacha Ryan on 10 occasions, but the rest? He was there in Ravenhill on a January day when Peter O’Mahony trotted on for a cameo of a debut that lasted 10 minutes but he missed the trip to the Sportsground three months later when Simon Zebo and Conor Murray followed suit.

Dave Kilcoyne? His senior bow was still 18 months away by the time De Villiers returned home to Western province, the Stormers and, ultimately, the Springboks, who he will lead out in Dublin today. “Yeah, it makes you feel old at times but it keeps you young too and you want to show what you still have,” said De Villiers, whose testing time spent in Ireland should serve as added motivation.

He has kept an eye out for his old team’s results but will get an up close and personal inspection at Lansdowne Road where he will line out opposite Earls in midfield.

“Keith… is an immensely talented player. I played a lot with him and he has matured a lot so it is good to see him in the 13 jersey and, well, I hope it goes well,” he laughed. “I can’t put it any other way.”

His time with Munster was one of unfulfilled promise and it was fascinating to see him pick out the 37-14 win at Perpignan as one of his two best Munster memories — the European quarter-final defeat of Northampton in Limerick being the other — as he started the game in France from the bench.

He had been dropped a week earlier for the first of the back-to-back December encounters with the Top 14 side with a certain Keith Earls drafted in from the wing as his replacement and the lad from Moyross kept that berth for the return.

And now here he is again, as skipper of the Springboks, but it is a South African team that has been relieved of key players through injury and confidence via a run of tough encounters in the recent Rugby Championship and so it is that De Villiers talks about growth as a key tour goal.

Improvements are required and in defence more than anywhere else, the captain warned: “Having played with and against a lot of the Irish back line, they are capable of cutting you to shreds if you are not up for it on the day.”