Tuesday 29 September 2015 16:47, UK
Jean de Villiers returned home to South Africa on Tuesday cursing his luck as his World Cup dream was shattered for a fourth time.
De Villiers has had extraordinarily bad luck in the competition. His international career has spanned four tournaments, and he has failed to finish one of them.
He sustained a serious knee injury minutes into his Test debut in France in 2002, and it meant him missing the following year's World Cup in Australia.
He damaged his biceps in the Springboks' opening game in 2007 and that was his tournament done as the Boks went on to win their second world title.
In 2011, another World Cup, and another injury curtailed his trip to New Zealand. And this year, he broke his jaw for the second time in two months playing against Samoa.
"I reckon the Rugby World Cup and Jean de Villiers, those two are not meant to go together," he said.
De Villiers will not get another chance - he has confirmed he is retiring from international rugby, though he will continue to play club rugby and may well play abroad again.
He finished his Boks career as of only five South Africans to play in more than 100 Tests, and he is their most capped centre.
"I definitely can't moan about that," De Villiers said after being welcomed home to Cape Town by a small group of fans, and also children from his old school who sang the national anthem for him at the airport arrivals building.
After hugging his wife and two young daughters, De Villiers went along the line of youngsters, shaking hands with each of them.
The departing Springboks captain was able to smile at his rotten luck, saying he had processed this latest and final bitter disappointment.
"I sort of knew it immediately once I took the knock to the jaw," he said.
He is likely to have surgery on Wednesday to insert metal plates on either side of his jaw. After about a week at home, he expects to return to the World Cup as a mentor for the younger players in the South African squad.
"If I do hang up my boots permanently, I want to make sure I've had enough and, to be honest, I'm still enjoying it," he said. "I reckon I'll be back on the rugby field."
But not, he admits, at another World Cup.
"There will always be that emptiness, to be honest," he said.
