JdV: 'It feels good to be back in CT'
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:35
Back in blue and white hoops: WP centre Jean de Villiers. (c) Gallo
One of Western Province's favourite son's, Jean de Villiers, will return to Newlands on Saturday when WP tackle the Leopards in a crucial Currie Cup fixture.
De Villiers last played for WP in 2008 and for the Stormers in 2009.
He played his club rugby in Ireland for Munster - joining the Irish province after the 2009 Tri-Nations - before returning home for the 2010 international season.
The 29-year-old spoke about his happiness to be back.
"It's my home, it's where I learnt to play rugby and it's great to be back. It's a new team and new players, so it's taken a bit of time to fit back in but I'm looking forward to the weekend," De Villiers told the official WP website.
He will be forging a first-ever Currie Cup midfield partnership with exciting Bok talent Juan de Jongh, who in De Villiers's absence established him as a force to be reckoned with.
"He's [De Jongh] a great player, one of the most exciting youngsters in the country at the moment and hopefully he'll be able to learn a bit from Jaque [Fourie] and I and go forward from there," De Villiers added.
"As a backline we haven't played much together, but it will be exciting with Lionel [Cronjé] at 10."
The contracted Springboks have been withdrawn from the Currie Cup competition until a later stage, but De Villiers did not want to be drawn into the debate about the pros and cons of that decision.
"Obviously I'm in the Province squad at the moment. There is obviously a plan going into the World Cup for different players, some players are resting and some aren't, and we'll leave it at that. I'm playing Currie Cup and my focus is on a good performance on Saturday."
He was, however, prepared to tell how impressed he was with the development of the team in his absence.
"It's been fantastic, watching from Ireland during the Super 14.
"It's fantastic to see a team that you've been part of for so long do so well. They'll always be part of who I am, and definitely when they're playing that well you sort of doubt your decisions to go overseas," he added.
The blond centre believes there is something special brewing in Cape Town and he concluded: "To be able to play three bad games and still be second on the log, that says something, we are doing something right.
"Most of the time if you lose three in a row you will find yourself in the bottom two. It's still a fantastic position to be in and we've still got everything to play for and it's only the team that can make it work.
"We need to go out and play winning rugby and hopefully we can book a place in the last game of the season," continued De Villiers.
"There have been good things... and bad things... and we've worked on the bad things. Hopefully we can rectify that on Saturday."
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