De Villiers keeps eye on World Cup

As the Springboks prepare to head to the Northern Hemisphere for the November Tests, captain Jean De Villiers knows full-well the ultimate goal is ensuring all the systems and details are in place with the World Cup being around the corner.

The squad were fortunate enough to enjoy a two-week break before reconvening at a training camp in Stellenbosch which gives them valuable time to improve all facets of their game.

"The reality is that we have eight games before the World Cup and, as a squad, that's not a lot. So whatever we need to work on and combinations we want try, we have that chance to it now and not closer to the World Cup.

"This [training camp] gives us the opportunity to improve on our performances against the All Blacks and Australia. There were some positive signs in those games but definitely some things to work on as well, the key for us is to constantly improve.

"We need to improve on all facets of play. We let in some soft tries against the All Blacks, so we need to improve defensively. We made some basic errors on attack and our decision making wasn't good at times.

"The breakdown is one of the areas where you can always improve, you can never be good enough there. Our scrum has improved through the year and we just need to ensure we improve those standards and not drop them in all facets of our game," he said.

Included in the two-week break was a trip to Japan for a delegation of 12 Springbok personnel, including De Villiers, as they went in search of finding an extra technical advantage at the headquarters of the apparel sponsor. De Villers also shared his thoughts on the standards of the game in the Land of the Rising Sun.

"Japan was really good, I went to see a couple of clubs there," he joked.

"Seriously though, it was a fantastic experience. We went there to undergo testing on our feet and had body scans, it was really cool. We also tested kit for the World Cup and they [the apparel sponsor] are definitely doing a lot to improve wherever they can for game days.

"Rugby there [in Japan] is really improving, the standard there is really high. Japan are in our pool and will be a tough test for us at the World Cup. I definitely think it's a team that's improving a lot," he added.

By Tauriq Ebrahim

@Tagels03