South Africa coach Peter de Villiers insists that 2010 has been one of his best years despite winning less than 60 percent of his matches.
De Villiers, who has faced mounting criticism throughout the season, presided over eight wins and six defeats in South Africa’s 14 outings this year.
The 53-year-old admitted that the figures did not read well but was adamant that his side had learnt much from the experience.
“If one looks at the scoreboard from the past year then you all have the right to be critical,” he said.
“The scoreboard did not look good, but it was a good year because we pulled together through adversity.
“I now understand each individual better. It was a very good year, one of the best of my life.”
The Springboks ended their autumn tour to Great Britain and Ireland with victory’s over England, Ireland and Wales.
Dsappointing
But they failed to complete the Grand Slam, suffering a shock defeat to Scotland and were outclassed in their final tour match against the Barbarians.
But, with 13 of his regulars missing through injury, de Villiers singled out his younger players for the way they performed during the tour.
He added: “Losing to Scotland remains very disappointing, but it shouldn’t totally overshadow the progress we have made.
“We left a large number of senior players at home and many commentators didn’t give us much chance.
“But we showed in our wins against Ireland, Wales and England that when we properly execute our game-plan we make it very hard for the opposition.
“We dominated England and Ireland for the first 60 minutes and turned around our game against Wales with some great play in the second half.
“Those were hard games in sometimes difficult conditions against fresh and motivated teams.
“We have been able to blood some new players in Test match rugby as well as give some young players an exposure to the Springbok environment that’ll stand our rugby in good stead in 2011 and beyond.
Citicism
“The pool of capped Springboks in serious contention for selection next year has been widened by this tour, while the hidden benefit is that we have more than a dozen senior players who weren’t on tour and who have had the advantage of an extended rest period.”
The coach also reserved praise for some of his more experienced players, who he said had defied criticism that they were too old.
“I think the senior players on this tour, such as Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, also ended the debate about whether it’s time to retire the over 30s, as some people wanted to, he said. “They led and performed in great style.
“Our scrum has continued to improve on this tour and we held our own and had periods of dominance in a region where they take scrumming very seriously.
“Overall I think our first phases were very good. We were also able to work on the way we want to play and we’re very clear on that within the group.
“We have South African strengths and we will play to them and when we keep hold of the ball as we plan, and execute our plans with accuracy a Springbok team is very hard to beat.”
