Peter de Villiers was in a buoyant mood despite back-to-back defeats for the Springboks over the past two weeks on the away leg of the Tri-Nations in Australasia.

The Springbok coach, who arrived back in Cape Town late on Sunday night, said the exercise of fielding a host of young inexperienced players for the two Tri-Nations matches will be a good investment for the future, and something that will stand the next national team coach in good stead.

“The next Springbok coach will definitely have something to work with and this tour has really served an important function in that regard, ” said De Villiers.

“You must bear in mind that when the Rugby World Cup comes to an end, it won’t mark the end of rugby or rugby in South Africa for that matter.

“People will still want the Springboks to win matches and these players will still want to be part of a winning recipe.

“So we did a very good thing.

“This experience will be valuable for South African rugby after the World Cup. ”

After the Springboks lost 39-20 to Australia in Sydney, De Villiers said his team showed a pleasing improvement against New Zealand, despite going down 40-7 in Wellington.

“I was pleased with the way we came back against New Zealand and I would say there was at least an improvement of between 30 to 40 percent, ” said De Villiers.

“I didn’t think the score (40-7) was a true reflection of the game.

“Our big problem was the lack of team cohesion and that brought about the mistakes we saw on defence. ”

He said when the players came under pressure they reverted to the structures they were used to at their respective franchises instead of sticking to the team structures they worked on before the tour.

De Villiers said he was looking forward to welcoming back his seasoned campaigners when the home leg of the Tri-Nations gets under way.

“If one looks at the guys who were not on tour now, there are many players who have been around for eight or nine years in international rugby, ” De Villiers said.

“I expect that it will take them about two weeks or even a week to adapt to each other again. ”

De Villiers felt that none of the players who went on tour played themselves out of contention for World Cup selection but he insisted that the strongest teams will be picked for the two remaining Tri-Nations matches.

“Why will you keep your great guns back when you go to war? ” De Villiers reasoned.

“Victory in the two matches will be important because wins help to build confidence.

“It also helps to lay the foundation for a belief that we can do it, going forward to the World Cup.

“Some of the players, because of injury, would have been out of the game for four to six weeks so it’s vital that they get to play ahead of the start of the World Cup. ”

De Villiers arrived in Cape Town along with Stormers players Juan de Jongh and CJ Van der Linde, as well as assistant coach Gary Gold.