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GALLERY: Boks v Wales
Du Plessis started off the bench in South Africa's 17-16 win over Wales in their Rugby World Cup opener on Sunday.
De Villiers, however, said his solid performance had not earned Du Plessis a place in the starting line-up, with John Smit and Chiliboy Ralepelle providing something different.
All the players in his squad, De Villiers said, were expected to know their roles, and would be used accordingly.
"If you look how comfortable Wales was against that starting line-up, and when we brought up that bench, what a hell of a difference they made," De Villiers said.
"I think that is the way to go, if you can have something up your sleeve.
"If you don't have that you become as ordinary as anyone else."
The debate around the inclusion of South Africa's long serving captain, Smit, ahead of Du Plessis, had been taxing for the Bok coach in the build-up to the tournament.
Smit repeatedly stated he did not select himself, while his form ahead of the global showpiece was not that far off the pace either.
With a horses for courses strategy seemingly providing the way forward, De Villiers said disrupting the team structure could count against the World Cup title holders in the long run.
With Jean de Villiers (rib) and Victor Matfield (hamstring) added to the Bok injury list during Sunday's bruising encounter, De Villiers said they had been rewarded by consistency in their planning.
"I think the one thing that we need to take credit for as a South African team is that we lost the two best leaders that we have in our country, and we still managed to pull it through when it mattered," he said.
"At this moment we look at the cohesion of the team, what everybody can bring to it, and what we need to understand from our opponents.
"We look at it holistically and then we make our decisions there, because definitely there are some attributes that Bizzy (Du Plessis) has that John doesn't have, and there are some that Chilli (Ralepelle) has that the other two don't have."
After snatching a late win in their opening match, De Villiers reiterated that the Boks faced a tough pool in qualifying for the playoffs.
"Some people think New Zealand is the team to beat here," he said.
"We think that to get there first is one hell of a job before we can think of beating the best in the world.
"For us to be undercooked we will let 50 million people down and we will let ourselves down."
