Jean de Villiers, Springbok captain, with knee dislocation injury against Wales
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers has revealed he has targeted the beginning of July to be back on the field.
If he achieves his aim, it will be an exceptional recovery from a total knee reconstruction after the painful injury he suffered in the match against Wales at the end of last season.
Since then De Villiers has been working tirelessly at rehabilitating the knee in order to meet the deadline, with things going a lot better than initially expected.
The Bok captain is already running again and hopes next month to resume team training before getting onto the field in early July.
Speaking at the Supersport Networking lunch at the Johannesburg Country Club, De Villiers was an optimistic man, and said if all goes to plan he will be fit and on the field again long before the final Rugby World Cup squad was picked.
“The recovery has gone very well. These days whenever I meet someone it’s always the 1st question,” De Villiers said.
“The recovery has gone rather well. It’s probably the biggest challenge I’ve had in my career but it’s on track and I’m looking to make my comeback hopefully in July.
“If everything stays on track I’ll be back playing in July and if that happens, it gives me a bit of time to play a few games and be in recognition for selection for the World Cup.
De Villiers said the operation in December was a success – his 6th knee operation of his career – and revealed some of the startling lengths that the medical team had to go to put him back together.
“I’ve had 6 knee ops, and what they usually do – if you’ve got an ACL rupture, then they usually either take your hamstring or quad tendon and they use that as a graft to put into the ligament. In my case my hamstring tendon was used already, so was my quad tendon.
“The other side’s hamstring tendon was also used as well. We went into the operation and Spike Erasmus, who did the surgery, was hoping my posterior cruciate ligament wasn’t off. If that was the case, the 1st option would have been to take the quad tendon from the other leg for the ACL.
“Fortunately for me, the PCL was also off, so they took artificial ligaments and put that in the ACL and PCL. I tore my ACL, PCL, MCL, Patella dislocation and hamstring… but the rest was fine,” De Villiers said to laughter.
“To see what they did in the operation and the way I felt post-op is just a miracle in a way. I felt so good and 5 months down the line I’m running and I’m feeling good.
Despite all of this, the fact he has had so many operations before actually made the road to recovery easier for the Bok captain, because he knew what to expect in the recovery.
“It’s massive but the fact I’ve been through it before makes it easier. I think the difference between the good sides and the great sides in the world is the great sides are the sides who prepare well mentally and are mentally stronger. The fact that I’ve been through this makes it easier in that I know what to do, I know what’s expected of me and it’s not an easy task. It’s a tough road and I really need to work hard to achieve that.
“From a mental point of view that’s probably the difference between the guys who make it and the guys who don’t.”
The biggest concern is where he will make his comeback – Vodacom Super Rugby has ended by then and the ABSA Currie Cup would not have started yet, and De Villiers isn’t itching to make a comeback at international level for his 1st game.
“It’s going well, rehab-wise I’m probably doing around 6 hours a day and I’m doing a bit of work at Loftus as well. I’m running, changing direction and I’m getting to a stage where I am able to sprint. We’re definitely on track. I’m hoping to take the field by June, do a few weeks team training in June, get a bit of confidence going.
“I then want to get a bit of game time in early July – the problem being that there isn’t much rugby going on in July. Super Rugby finishes in July and Currie Cup only starts in August. So we’ve got a situation where I may have to go and play club rugby. Test match rugby is a bit too difficult to go into straight away. The risk of club rugby, though, is probably more.”
The likelihood is that his Western Province team may well organise a friendly against a neighbouring side to give him some game time and get him back to fitness.
But it is certain De Villiers is a determined man, and rightly so, having had so much bad luck in the past.
SuperSport