Cape Town - Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer says they won’t rush centre Jean de Villiers back too soon as they prepare for Saturday’s Rugby Championship Tests against the All Blacks.
With Victor Matfield unlikely to be ready due to a hamstring injury, and Schalk Burger having also suffered a knock against Australia last weekend, there were rumours that De Villiers may be drafted in to captain the side against the All Blacks.
De Villiers made his return from a knee injury against the World XV earlier this month and played 60 minutes for Western Province in their warm-up match against the Pumas at the weekend.
De Villiers is due to play a second warm-up match for WP against the EP Kings this weekend and is likely to get more game time for his province.
“The plan was never for Jean to play against Australia and New Zealand and even though Victor and Schalk are injured, we’re not going to rush him back,” said the Bok mentor.
“If Victor can’t play on Saturday, we’ll make a call on the captaincy and announce it when the team is named on Wednesday.”
Saturday’s Test at Emirates Airline Park kicks off at 17:05.