As the team woke up with a collective hangover, battered and bruised after their 34-32 humbling at the hands of Japan at the Brighton Community Stadium on Saturday, so began the introspection.
"The senior players have a massive role to play. Each player must now step (up) and make himself counted," said de Villiers.
"It is a World Cup and we need to focus on things we believe we are strong at, and it's up to the senior players now to lift the group and set the tone for the work we need to do.
"Each player let himself down. It was a below-par performance from us and is not acceptable with the standards we set ourselves. I don’t want to take anything away from Japan’s victory, but we have to take ownership of this performance and make ourselves accountable, we (the) players were on the field. The coaching staff can’t do anything on the field, so we are responsible." The centre with over a century of caps is one of the nine squad members who survive from the 2007 World Cup winning team. All nine played in the opening Pool B match, either in the starting line-up or off the bench.
But for all the experience silly errors cost South Africa, according to their captain. "We gave away far too many penalties away and that kept Japan in the game. We never had a clear gap of seven points or more over them and could never get away from them. They just managed to hang on and in the end overtook us."
South Africa moved from their base at Eastbourne on the English south coast to Birmingham on Sunday. They next take on Samoa at Villa Park on Saturday.
(Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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