JEAN DE VILLIERS

Despite a career plagued by injuries at the most inopportune moments, popular and experienced Currie Cup, Super Rugby and international rugby centre, Jean de Villiers, returned to South Africa from a year playing for Munster in Ireland and not only secured a place on the South African team, but secured the captaincy of our team – leading them to victory against England in June this year.

Born in Paarl, in the Western Cape on 24th February in 1981, De Villiers completed his schooling at Paarl Gimnasium High School, an Afrikaans school with a reputation for producing a number of top sportsmen including rugby players such as Schalk Burger and Marius Joubert.

De Villiers commenced his university studies at Stellenbosch University and played for the Under 20s and the Maties First Team before he decided to ditch studying in favour of concentrating on rugby.

The former wing’s career took off in 2002 when De Villiers played a major role in the success of the South African Sevens when they secured second place in the 2001-2002 World Sevens Series and third spot in the 2002 Common Wealth Games.

In 2002 he scored four tries for the Junior Springboks in the U21 Rugby World Cup. De Villiers then went on to debut at senior level, wearing the green and gold jersey for the first time in November 2002 in the test against France in Marseilles at the age of 21 – but he only got to play for five minutes before a serious knee injury left him out of the game.

By 2004 De Villiers had recovered his fitness and winning form and scored three tries, helping the Boks to an unexpected victory in the Tri-Nations Series. In 2005 de Villiers was a nominee for SA Rugby Player of the Year.

Locally he played for Western Province in the Currie Cup. He debuted for the Stormers in 2005 against the Sharks in Super Rugby and served as the Stormers captain in 2008 and 2009.
In 2006 he went on to captain the Springbok team in the World 15 at Ellis Park in June 2006. A regular for the SA squad in 2007, a torn bicep in the first game of the 2007 saw him watch South Africa’s World Cup victory from the sidelines.

His strong form continued in 2008, with De Villiers playing in all 13 Springbok Test matches – including an historic win over New Zealand – and the three matches on the English tour. His performance on and off the field won him the SA Rugby Player of the year as well as the Players’ Player of the Year award in 2008.

De Villiers played an important role in South Africa winning the Tri-Nations again in 2009 before he left to play for Munster in Ireland on a one-year contract. He opted not to renew his contract with Munster and returned to South Africa in 2010.

He joined the South African squad in 2010 and signed up for Western Province for the 2010 Currie Cup, but missed a number of these matches due to playing for the international squad.

De Villiers also tied the knot in 2010, marrying Marlie in August with a wedding ceremony at Toring Kerk in Paarl, with their reception at the nearby Kronenburg Estate

He also signed up for the Stormers to play in the inaugural Super 15 competition in 2011.
Considered one of South Africa’s most talented and experienced rugby players, De Villiers has played a total of 77 rugby test matches and scored 73 tries for Western Province and 20 for South Africa. He currently holds the record as the most-capped South Africa centre (62).

In December 2011, De Villiers received an early Christmas present, with the birth of his first child, a daughter named Layli Cardea de Villiers.

Springbok coach, Heyneke Meyer, selected De Villiers to captain the Super Rugby team for the 2012 mid-year test series in June this year against England – which De Villiers considers the highlight of his career. The squad won the first two games 22-17 and 36-27 with the third ending in a 14-14 draw.
Meyer said: “Jean has really impressed me with the way he’s led a young Stormers team, and as the Springboks are a team in transition, I cannot think of a better man equipped to mentor the youngsters in our squad,” on selecting De Villiers for the position.

De Villiers captaincy was a trial for the three-test march against England with the decision up for review after that – but De Villiers seems to have passed the initial test and has continued to lead South Africa’s relatively young and inexperienced team since then.