Embattled South Africa coach Peter de Villiers begins his countdown this weekend to a make-or-break tour of the British Isles with a two-day national squad camp.

Although told to carry on after a disastrous Tri-Nations tournament yielded just one win from six outings against the All Blacks and Wallabies, the Springbok handler knows his job is still on the line.

The world champions face Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England on consecutive Saturdays from November 6 and De Villiers needs at least three Test wins to survive.

Ireland in Dublin is a tough start and Wales in Cardiff could go either way. Scotland appears a slightly easiest task, but then there is England at Twickenham, where the Boks do not have a good record.

De Villiers, who became the first black Bok coach when he succeeded 2007 World Cup winner Jake White two years ago, has acknowledged the dire situation by calling up his front-line soldiers for the Johannesburg camp.

The original plan was to rest weary stars like lock Victor Matfield and fly-half Morne Steyn and experiment with fringe players ahead of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next September and October.

But after surviving a post-Tri Nations grilling from anxious national rugby bosses, De Villiers did a U-turn and included many players he said would be rested in a training squad cut to 37 by injuries to centre Wynand Olivier and wing JP Pietersen.

The fact that about a dozen players who were not expected to tour have now been included is a sure sign of the pressure facing De Villiers and his assistants.

Few decisions De Villiers makes escape media criticism, and the timing of the camp and the choice of players have seen him come under renewed fire.

Media queried staging a camp in the middle of a two-week build-up to the highlight of the domestic season, the Currie Cup final between the Sharks and Western Province in Durban on October 30.

Virtually half the squad come from Sharks or Province and the concern is that the minds of players from the finalists will be far removed from the Bok 'Grand Slam' tour.

Since an injury ruled loose forward and 'fetcher' Heinrich Brussouw out of Bok consideration for this year, the back-row choices of De Villiers have almost inevitably sparked an outcry.

This time he picked Blue Bulls flank Deon Stegmann, an injury absentee from much of the Currie Cup campaign, but omitted 2010 Springbok Francois Louw of Western Province and Currie Cup star Keegan Daniel of the Sharks.

De Villiers did win approval for including three young backs who have shone in the domestic championship - Patrick Lambie, Lwazi Mvovo (both Sharks) and Lions fly-half Elton Jantjies.

But whether they get a chance to shine in Dublin, Cardiff, Edinburgh or London is questionable with De Villiers and assistants Dick Muir and Gary Gold likely to rely on Matfield and other Test-hardened Boks to save their skins.

Backs: Gio Aplon, Bryan Habana, Ricky Januarie, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers (Western Province), Adrian Jacobs, Patrick Lambie, Lwazi Mvovo, Francois Hougaard, Zane Kirchner, Morne Steyn (Northern Bulls), Bjorn Basson (Griquas), Elton Jantjies (Lions)

Forwards: Bakkies Botha, Dean Greyling, Werner Kruger, Victor Matfield, Flip van der Merwe, Dewald Potgieter, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Danie Rossouw, Pierre Spies and Deon Stegmann (Bulls), Willem Alberts, Alistair Hargreaves, Ryan Kankowski, Gerhard Mostert, Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis and Jannie du Plessis (Sharks), Ashley Johnson, CJ van der Linde, Coenie Oosthuizen, Juan Smith and Adriaan Strauss (Cheetahs), Schalk Burger and Duane Vermeulen (Province)