Boks need to focus on positives
Speaking on the team's return to South Africa after finishing third at the World Cup, De Villiers recognised that there need to be changes implemented in order to improve but urged people to reflect on the positives from this campaign as a starting point.
A decision of the future of Heyneke Meyer as coach is set to be made by the SARU general council in early December, and De Villiers said that it would be crucial to take the lessons learned in England forward.
"We need to find the positives out of this campaign and take that forward, like the coach also said, we didn't win it so there needs to be change – if we do the same again we will get the same result.
"The decision-makers need to sit down, take the emotion out of it and make a decision for the benefit of SA rugby so that when the guys sit here in four years time we have got smiles on our faces and we don't want answers we are just celebrating," he said.
De Villiers said that while it was disappointing to have lost to the eventual champions New Zealand in the semifinal, people should also be celebrating the lengthy careers of stalwarts such as Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger and Bryan Habana.
"Today is maybe also a celebration of the careers of the guys sitting here, so even though we didn't come back to South Africa victorious I think there is still a lot to celebrate and maybe it shouldn't be such a sombre Tuesday.
"There can still be a lot to take out of this campaign, and I think if we can see the positives and take it for the next four years, the next campaign when we start again then I think South African rugby is on the right track," he said.
Burger admitted that he did not see much of the final, but conceded that the All Blacks were deserved winners after their slender victory over the Springboks in the semifinal.
"To be honest I didn't watch too much of the final, I was in the pub with my mates celebrating our careers at that stage.
"We were so close but the All Blacks are a world class team and in the final they proved that and put Australia away.
"I think they deserved to win, but it didn't make losing to them in the semifinal any easier," he said.
Burger paid tribute to the character of the team to bounce back from their opening defeat to Japan and push the All Blacks all the way.
"Obviously after our first game against Japan we thought we might not get there, but we got there and as everyone has pointed out it was helluva close.
"Getting a bronze medal from where we started the competition I think is one heck of an achievement and I think any lesser group would have fallen apart.
"I think it is a credit to everyone in the squad that we got things back on track and found a way to win.
"We always knew that [All Blacks] would be the big one, even before the tournament when the draw came out," he added.
