Jean de Villiers touched down in Cork airport this morning as he prepares to embark on his Munster career. The all-conquering Springbok will finalise any remaining red tape with a medical tomorrow and declared himself fit and raring to go.

Coming off the back of an epic summer campaign that saw South Africa claim the Lions and Tri Nations series, one might have expected the centre to be in need of a break.

But de Villiers, who won’t feature for Munster until next week at the earliest, said he is feeling as fresh as ever.

"I haven't really had that long a season because I was injured early on and missed the early games in the Super 14,” he told reporters. “So really the remainder of that campaign and the Tri Nations has been my pre-season, so I'm pretty happy with my fitness."

Even before he had left South Africa, de Villiers, who made a flying visit to the province during a break in the Tri Nations, had adopted the Munster mindset.

South African journalists, somewhat unimpressed with Ronan O’Gara’s defensive capabilities, suggested that the centre would have to up his work-rate to compensate for the Irish international’s perceived shortcomings.

“I don’t think so,” he responded earlier this week. “Ronan’s a fantastic player. He’s shown in the past he’s a quality player.”