Jean de Villiers claims earning a Springboks cap the ‘easy’ part as South Africa legend issues ‘very, very dangerous’ warning

Former Springboks captain Jean de Villiers believes that there is ‘much more pressure’ on young players with supporters too eager to move on to the next big talent.

Debate often rages around international selection with fans always wanting their favourites to be selected in the squad.

Social media has increased those voices significantly, making the job even harder for both the players and the coaches, who ultimately pick the teams.

South Africa is like any other top rugby nation in that respect, especially with the quality they have coming through at the moment, and De Villiers is concerned about how it can impact the players.

‘Very, very dangerous’

“The pressure is so much more these days because guys get built up on social media and they become great before they’re great in terms of social media,” he said on the Boks Office podcast.

“There’s a lot of pressure that goes with that because now the expectation is there, the expectation has really been built before you’ve really stepped up to that stage.

“It’s tough and it’s very, very dangerous ground. Becoming a Springbok is ‘easy’ but staying there is the difficult part.

“It’s so easy to build a guy up and say, ‘no, this guy is playing better than the guy that’s currently there, he should be playing.’

“Then he plays one game and then it’s like, ‘no, the next guy should come in.’ Because we have so much talent coming through in South Africa, it’s just so easy to say, ‘the next guy, the next guy.’”

Two young sensations who have handled the pressure expertly are Damian Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Willemse made his Test debut as a 20-year-old and has since been part of two Rugby World Cup-winning squads, while Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the latest star to emerge from the Republic having impressed in 2024.

“He’s (Willemse) won two World Cups by the age of 25, I think he’s done alright. He’s tracking nicely,” De Villiers joked. “Even Sacha, he’s lived up to the expectation and it’s great when we see that.

“What’s tough for me is to watch guys that get blown out of proportion in terms of how great they are and then that actually be the stumbling block for them to live up to those expectations.

“We don’t want that so we just need to be cautious of that.”

The next star?

South Africa keep churning out the talent and centre Jurenzo Julius is thought to be the next cab off the rank.

Julius impressed for the Junior Springboks in the 2023 and 2024 World Rugby U20 Championships and made his Sharks debut in the URC last weekend.

“It’s one URC game so we need to caution about building guys up too quickly,” De Villiers warned. “Yes, he could be a fantastic future Bok, but you’ve got Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Damian Willemse, who can play there.

“You’ve got Dan du Plessis, who’s consistent at the Stormers, and you’ve got Dan Kriel playing great rugby at the Bulls.

“[But] it’s a great bonus for Jurenzo playing with a guy like Andre Esterhuizen on his inside.”