When Peter de Villiers was appointed the first non-white coach of South Africa at the start of 2008, not many people gave him a chance of longevity in the role.

At that point he was taking over from one of the most successful Springbok mentors of all time in Jake White and a man who had just led the country to glory at the 2007 World Cup in France.

But 16 months down the line, the 51-year-old has silenced many of his critics, despite not having set the world on fire.

Now he stands on the brink of guiding the nation into a prestigious British and Irish Lions tour which all of South Africa will be desperate to win after the events of 12 years ago.

The Lions last visited the African nation in 1997 and walked away with a 2-1 Test series victory.

De Villiers, who has now been tasked with that duty, was not a favoured choice when he took over the reins last year – not least for political reasons.

In a country where sport and politics have been indelibly linked since the abolishment of apartheid in the early 1990s, many saw his appointment as just another token move in the changing face of South African rugby.

"The fact that I am the first black coach must end now," De Villiers said at the time.

"Players out there must understand they will all stand an equal chance. If they're good enough, talented enough and work hard enough they will be part of my squad."

Those comments came from a man who had never coached any of the major unions in the Currie Cup or a Super 14 franchise in his career and was awarded the role ahead of Heyneke Meyer.

The former Bulls boss was an obvious choice after leading the side to three Currie Cups and a Super 14 title during his time in Pretoria.

And De Villiers' selection even prompted SA Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins to openly state: "The appointment was not entirely made for rugby reasons.

"We took into account the issue of transformation. I am just being honest with our country."

But Paarl-born De Villiers, who rose to prominence with a superb record coaching the national under-19, under-21 and South Africa emerging teams, put his 20 years of coaching experience at various levels to good use by starting his new role promisingly.

After convincing almost all of the World Cup-winning players to stay on, including John Smit as captain, he then began his tenure with back-to-back wins over Wales, followed by another triumph over Italy.

But the real test in the Tri-Nations against Australia and New Zealand left more unanswered questions.

The Springboks managed just two wins out of six to finish bottom of the table.

However, one of those victories was probably the most memorable in recent times when De Villiers led his team to a 30-28 scoreline against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

In the midst of the competition, South Africa also beat Argentina in a one-off Test and then ended the year with wins over Wales, Scotland and England during their tour to the United Kingdom.

Now De Villiers will look to take his attacking brand of rugby into a series against the Lions.

His opposite number Ian McGeechan, who masterminded the last tour in 1997, has already named his squad, which will be lead by Irishman Paul O'Connell and is heavily armoured with a powerful pack of forwards.

"Geech has put together a good squad, which is what we expected, based on the players who were on form in the Six Nations," said De Villiers. "There is depth in most positions, which is what they will need on a long and tough tour.

"We expect that there will be strong competition for places in all positions, which will make things interesting for us.

"We always expected them to pick strong and aggressive forwards, which indicates that they see the breakdown, scrum and lineout as key elements of the contest.

"It looks like a well-balanced and experienced group and it will be interesting to see how their Test side takes shape.

"Now that we know the make-up of their squad we will be able to advance our preparations in terms of our analysis of their strengths and weaknesses, how we expect them to play and how we must prepare for the three Tests."

De Villiers' first task will be naming his squad for the series, which begins with the first Test match in Durban on June 20.

That announcement should come towards the end of May and is not expected to contain many surprises as the coach looks to stamp his biggest mark yet in Springbok colours – a mark which could define his pedigree as an international coach and remove any lingering doubts over his appointment.