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Cape Town - Jean de Villiers is hoping to rejoin the Springboks' Rugby World Cup campaign in a couple of weeks.
And he revealed upon arriving back in Cape Town on Tuesday that he would be taking that trip very seriously.
De Villiers will obviously play no further part in the tournament. That fate was sealed when he fractured his jaw in Saturday's 46-6 win over Samoa. But that doesn't mean that the 34-year-old's contribution to the Bok charge is over.
"If you look at the make-up of the squad you see youngsters in certain positions but then you see a very senior guy in the same position that helps with that," De Villiers told media at Cape Town International.
"We share that knowledge of the game and the experiences that we have … I’ve spent a lot of time with Jesse over the last couple of weeks and obviously with Damian over the last two years and I will still be doing there when I go back.
"I think that’s very important and I need to give back now. That’s the main thing. And if I do go back it’s definitely not on a holiday, it’s to assist wherever I can and to make a positive contribution to the team still."
De Villiers said that the Boks were a "different side" from the one that started the tournament and that they were in a far better space now than they were after they lost their tournament opener to Japan.
"From a team point of view they’re certainly in a much better state than last week Monday and Tuesday and hopefully we can just get a good performance on the weekend again,” said De Villiers.
"Maybe that was the kick up the backside we needed," he said of the Japan result.
