De Villiers elated with performances on tour

The Stormers returned from New Zealand and Australia on Saturday with a haul of 16 points from their four matches after three wins and a narrow defeat. The 16 points catapulted them to the 6th position on the points log.

The Stormers are enjoying a bye this weekend and then play five consecutive games at home before an away trip to the Lions to finish the league phase of the competition.

De Villiers was elated with the great performance on tour. “Three out of four, yes, I am very glad about that. We said right from the start we wanted to win all four, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.

“We are, however, happy with the points we brought home – 16 points are basically four wins. We are chuffed with the bonus points we’ve earned. Now we will enjoy our week off and then we will try to get a number of victories at home.”

Asked whether a semifinal spot was a talking point within the squad, the centre said the team prfers not to talk about it too much. “We believe we should take it game by game and to focus on that. We need to get the results in every game, then the semifinal spot would take care of itself.

“You are in danger of coming unstuck if you focus too much on the end product instead of taking it step by step. That is why we focus on every match and every week. We will enjoy our bye and then we are looking forward to the Cheetahs at Newlands.”

De Villiers admitted it was very disappointing losing in the final minute to the Blues courtesy of a penalty kick. He said: “We stood under the poles and Schalk Burger told me he really hoped the kick would be miss.

“Unfortunately it didn’t happen. Maybe they were even a little bit better than us on the day. They had more possession and sometimes you just have to accept it. If the kick wasn’t over, we would have gotten a draw.

“That would have mean’t we would have moved up two spots on the log, because there are two teams with only point more than us just above us. But we will not reminish on what could have happened, we need to focus on what lies ahead.”