'I know it is a little late but . . .'
Jean de Villiers admits he struggled to adapt in the red of Munster, but he's hoping to sign off with a Magners League title
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Jean de Villiers admits his early form at Munster wasn't up to scratch and is relishing another shot at Leinster after an under par performance saw Michael Cheika's men pile 30 points on in October, writes Gavin Cummiskey in The Irish Times.
"The earliest snapshot of de Villiers in red is Brian O’Driscoll scorching outside him, and then inside Keith Earls, for a scarily good try in that still hard-to-fathom 30-0 destruction Leinster inflicted at the RDS last October. That was only his second match and while no stranger to the big occasions, he had been flat out since the previous spring so the Jean de Villiers in the brochure was not what first pitched up in Limerick.
“Yeah, I knew how important the game was but I think maybe in a way I wasn’t prepared in the way I should have been, mentally. I don’t think (the Lions Test series and Tri-Nations) was an excuse. You try and think what it will be like but don’t really know because you haven’t experienced it. We have games back home with the same intensity, same rivalry but this is different. You are playing with different players. At that stage I wasn’t probably part of the team yet, part of the family, as such. From the first day I struggled with form. I struggled to get to grips with the team dynamics.
“No excuses!” he quickly adds. “We were beaten by a stronger team. On the day, they were fantastic and they have shown all year what a great side they are.”
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