'No bad blood between teams'

Reports this week have repeatedly alluded to the bad blood between the teams after John Smit revealed that British & Irish Lions players refused to share a beer with the Springboks during the series.

But De Villiers, who plays for Irish province Munster, tried to diffuse the continued speculation.

“This whole bad blood thing is unnecessary,” De Villiers said. “Some of the issues in that series have been blown out of proportion.

“Having friends in the South African camp and having friends in the Ireland team who were part of the Lions series there is nothing to it.

“Maybe there were some communication failures that led to some people thinking there was bad blood but I don’t think so at all.

“Make no mistake, after the game both sides will be having a beer together.

“It’s a great day for me to involved in this game,” De Villiers said. “To represent my country against friends and teammates in the opposition will make it one of the games I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.”

De Villiers did stifle a smile when he was asked about the warm reception the 82 000 Croke Park fans might reserve for Bok flank Schalk Burger.

Burger was involved in the now notorious eye-gouging incident with Irish and Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald that resulted in an eight-week ban for the Bok flank.

Fitzgerald is injured and will not play on Saturday, but Burger will certainly be a target for the boo-boys in the crowd.

“Schalk is only disappointed that Fitzgerald isn’t playing,” De Villiers said with a smile.