The Springboks will travel to the Northern Hemisphere next weekend with five uncapped players but without their all-time leading try-scorer and most experienced player, Bryan Habana.
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Habana was the latest key player to be added to a long injury list when he sustained a knee injury in Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup final. Scans on Sunday confirmed he will miss the tour of Ireland, Scotland and England.
South Africa Under-20 winger Raymond Rhule, who was part of the squad that won the IRB Junior World Championship in Cape Town earlier this year and who has shone for the Toyota Free State Cheetahs in the Absa Currie Cup, was named in the squad along with uncapped Jano Vermaak, Franco van der Merwe, Lionel Mapoe and Arno Botha. Of the five, only the 19-year-old Rhule has not been part of a Springbok squad yet this year, but his inclusion forms part of Meyer’s plan to blood promising youngster for the future.
Rhule is one of five wing options with the fit-again JP Pietersen, Francois Hougaard, Lwazi Mvovo and Mapoe. Pietersen, Rhule and Mapoe can also be used at centre, while Hougaard can also play at scrumhalf.
Two Springboks currently based in Europe, Schalk Brits (hooker) and Gurthrö Steenkamp (loosehead prop), have also been recalled to the national squad, bringing the European based contingent to 4 players in the squad. Due to the significant injury toll, the national selectors will only decide on a 32nd player to be added to the squad at a later stage.
Two Springboks who missed the entire Castle Rugby Championship because of injury, JP Pietersen and Chiliboy Ralepelle, are back in the squad.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, whose squad assembles in Cape Town on Wednesday, said it was not easy to select the squad in the light of the high number of players unavailable due to injury.
Injured players that had been part of the Springbok squad thus far this year, but were not considered for selection, are Coenie Oosthuizen, Bismarck du Plessis, Tiaan Liebenberg, Andries Bekker, Siya Kolisi, Jacques Potgieter, Pierre Spies, Johan Goosen, Frans Steyn and Bryan Habana. In addition Springboks Schalk Burger, Juan Smith and Heinrich Brüssow are still out injured.
“We’ve got a settled core of players that did the job during the England series and The Castle Rugby Championship and we decided to stick with them,” said Meyer.
“Obviously losing so many players to injury, the latest being Coenie, Tiaan, Andries, Jacques and Bryan during the Absa Currie Cup, makes it difficult, but this now provides opportunities for other players.
“Gurthrö and Schalk are experienced front rankers who have played for South Africa before and know the conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. This tour provides a good opportunity to assess them as we plan ahead. Arno, Lionel, Franco and Jano have all been part of our squad earlier in the season.
“Raymond put up his hand for the Junior Boks and the Cheetahs and I’m very excited to see what he can do. It’s also great to have JP and Chiliboy back from injury as they bring a lot of experience to the squad.”
Meyer said he expected three extremely difficult Tests: “Although the Springboks won on their last visit to Dublin (in 2010), they lost three in a row before that,” he said.
“In 2010, we lost to Scotland in Edinburgh. They beat the Wallabies in Australia earlier in the year, so it won’t be easy there.
“And in June we’ve experienced first-hand how difficult and opponent England are. They will be fired up at Twickenham and it will be a challenging Test to end the tour with.
“Our aim is to end the season on a positive note. We set ourselves high standards and we want to improve with every Test, but we have a team that is still gaining valuable experience as we strive to constantly be amongst the top sides in the world. We know we’re not there yet, but we’ve laid a foundation in the first nine Tests this year and we will build on that.
“The Rugby World Cup in 2015 also takes place in England, so we will use this tour to see how our players adapt to the conditions as we look ahead to that very important tournament.”
The Springbok squad will assemble in Cape Town on Wednesday and depart to the UK from Johannesburg on Saturday. They will return to South Africa on Monday, 26 November.
The Springbok squad for the Castle Outgoing Tour to Ireland, Scotland and England:
Forwards:
Willem Alberts (The Sharks) Loose forward – 17 Tests
Arno Botha (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Loose forward – 0 Tests
Schalk Brits (Saracens, England) Hooker – 3 Tests
Pat Cilliers (MTN Golden Lions) Prop – 3 Tests
Marcell Coetzee (The Sharks) Loose forward – 9 Tests
Jannie du Plessis (The Sharks) Prop – 39 Tests
Eben Etzebeth (DHL Western Province) Lock – 8 Tests
Juandré Kruger (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Lock – 5 Tests
Francois Louw (Bath, England) Loose forward – 14 Tests
Tendai Mtawarira (The Sharks) Prop – 41 Tests
Chiliboy Ralepelle (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Hooker – 21 Tests
Gurthrö Steenkamp (Toulouse, France) Prop – 38 Tests
Adriaan Strauss (Toyota FS Cheetahs) Hooker – 18 Tests
CJ van der Linde (MTN Golden Lions) Prop – 73 Tests
Flip van der Merwe (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Lock – 20 Tests
Franco van der Merwe (MTN Golden Lions) Lock – 0 Tests
Duane Vermeulen (DHL Western Province) No 8 – 4 Tests
Backs:
Juan de Jongh (DHL Western Province) Centre – 12 Tests
Jean de Villiers (Captain and DHL Western Province) Centre – 81 Tests
Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Scrumhalf / Wing – 24 Tests
Elton Jantjies (MTN Golden Lions) Flyhalf – 2 Tests
Zane Kirchner (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Fullback – 21 Tests
Pat Lambie (The Sharks) Fullback – 17 Tests
Lionel Mapoe (MTN Golden Lions) Wing / Centre – 0 Tests
Lwazi Mvovo (The Sharks) Wing – 7 Tests
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster, N Ireland) Scrumhalf – 60 Tests
JP Pietersen (The Sharks) Wing / Centre – 45 Tests
Raymond Rhule (Toyota FS Cheetahs) Wing – 0 Tests
Morné Steyn (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Flyhalf – 41 Tests
Jaco Taute (MTN Golden Lions) Utility back – 2 Tests
Jano Vermaak (Vodacom Blue Bulls) Scrumhalf – 0 Tests
@ grootblousmile:
HIyas Thanks for removing, was doing that as i was not sure if you would be in today 😆
Thank you Puma for pointing that out to me. I was not aware of that rule. Was just thinking of Rathbone, but then he did not have springbok colours.
29 @ shenzi:
Fark, then you might be the OLDEST blogger here… I was born in 1964… and I rank amongst the oldies here!
Hehehe
Hope to see a lot of comments from you in future.
THIS is the friendly rugby site, here we have mutual respect, we have fun.. we have lively rugby discussions!
By the way, where did you hear about Rugby-Talk?
29 @ shenzi:
Welcome Shenzi. Good to have you here buddy.
31 @ Sharks_forever:
Commisserations on your team’s loss yesterday… hard pill to swallow!
32 @ shenzi:
Rathbone only played for our U21 so he was allowed to play for another country. I seem to remember of late that rule will also change. Once you play for the U20 Boks now players are bound to play only for that country. Read that just recently.
So we won’t lose Lambie to another country, but he may get fed up sitting on the bench and go play for a overseas club. For my Sharks sake hope not, as we need him for years still.
NOt sure why people are surprised??
The few changes made were enforced due to injuries,
In all honesty do not expect any change to the Starting 22, bar one or 2 again because of injury.
HM says he intended bringing in Rhule?? not so, if Habana didnt get injured he would be there and not Rhule,
36 @ Puma:I think that may come sooner, rather than later, I am afraid.
31 @ Sharks_forever:
Howzit bro,
Tough for our Sharks yesterday. Not sure why Plum never took Burden off when he was having a shocker. Also felt for Reinach, he never had a good game either and it all filtered down to the others. Cooper should should have come on earlier and so should have McLeod. Damn our lineouts are a curse now. We need to sort that out before the S15 next year.
@ grootblousmile:
Thanks bro, but trust me i had a bad feeling, thats why the whole week i kept taalking about who wants it most, and like that thread we had all the music?? where it was about believing and mental preperation.
Fact is best team on the day won it and again the Sharks fail in the area i am always concerned about..
We all know they have a good team, but it’s that, mental part that every now and then goes awol.
38 @ Just For Kicks:
Well if Lambie gets ignored again for a out of form Morne, then think he just may start thinking that way. Especially after he showed what a class flyhalf we have in him. He is our complete flyhalf. One of the best we have in this country, sittin on the bench waiting for 10min to go and fetch the high balls. So it seems.
Morne should have been left at home and let Lambie and Jantjies play fh. Ag, I have said it many times. So not going to go on about it again. Meyer is going to cost us some serious talent here if he keeps playing them out of position or ignores them.
@ Puma:
Hiyas Pooms bro, we just werent good enough mate, as a team.
40 @ Sharks_forever:
Sharks still had a good season, were in both big Finals… so rest easy, your team’s depth is awesome.
37 @ Sharks_forever:
Exactly.
Also remember after the first test in June against England. When Lambie came on after the break, we speeded up the game. Meyer said that was always going to be his intention to bring on Lambie then and for us to speed up the game. HUH? Now we all know that was probably a lie, as Lambie only came on for the injured Zane, otherwise as we see now he would never have come on but warmed the bench then already.
For now just hope NONE of our Shark players pick up a injury over there so we can have them fit for our team when they get back.
@ grootblousmile:
Boet we still lacking a decent lock, Its pretty clear to see, Of course we have Bissy, Steyn and Kanko returning, And we are getting Franco VD Merwe for the Super 15, but there is no lineout specialist,
42 @ Sharks_forever:
I know. Province were too good for us yesterday. Only you and I again kept saying we felt nervous for that game and we both said it could go either way. Not sure why people wrote Province off? That was a good side.
Always when youngsters are playing, they are fearless. I knew they could beat us.
Still though, if we had our lineout working with Burden and Reinach having better games, we could have. Once both those players were off form, it was a very long day for us. Still though had Ludik gone on his own in the end he most definitely would have got a try. Then that is easy to say now. It is the split second to think about it at the time. Should have thrown a dummy and he would have been away.
Anyhow read in the papers today that Butch is coming to Sharks next year. To cover fh. Now hope that Kanko does not stay in Japan. Also pleased we have Van der Merwe coming next year.
I still think we should have had a 5/2 split yesterday. Should have had Psdt on the bench. He is very, very good in the lineouts. But then again Burden’s throws were really very bad. Probably don’t matter who were the jumpers. Just one of those days.
@ Puma:
Don’t punnish yourself anymore boet, know in advance lambie will not be the Flyhalf and he will not be the Starting 15,
Infact you might find taute at 15 or backup 15 meaning Lambie wont make the 22
@ Puma:
Kanko will return
Ostrich depresses the fark out of me, so I will stop thinking about him, and have happier thoughts that I will share with you.
WP/Stormers, (thanks Sunday Times), now have the Vodacom Cup, the S15 soup bowl thingy for toping the log, the CC U19 trophy, the CC Cup and the Schools trophy. They had teams in all 3 finals yesterday. The average age of the CC Cup team was 23 years old. There is the likes of Jantjies, Taute, Cilliers and Rhodes joining them next year. A very settled coaching staff. And lastly, hopefully some players coming back from long term injuries before the next season starts.
Next year is looking very promising, all of a sudden.
Springboks have only 3 matches on this tour… Ireland, Scotland, then finally England
45 @ Sharks_forever:
Kanko was like a one man band in the lineouts when we were playing brilliant towards the end of the S15. He was actully just awesome there. He also done the calls.
Think at the start of SuperRugby we gonna miss Bissie huge, like we done Beast this year. Think Bissie only comes back in April. Cooper will have to step up. Then by that time Burden will be far better,as he is obviously not game fit right now.
Interesting Provincial breakdown:
Bulls 8
Sharks 7
Lions 6
Stormers 4
Overseas players 4
Cheetahs 2
(5 of the 6 Lions will be playing Super Rugby for other provinces next year… 3 for the Stormers, 1 for the Sharks, 1 for the Bulls… only CJ van der Linde staying with the Lions or have I missed him going somewhere too?)
I also hear that there is stormy weather over JHB that could dampen the CL20 final. I don’t mind that so much, but I would like to see the Lions lads win it and walk away with a cool mill each. SA won the Sixes comp in Hong Kong too, if anyone is interested.
probable 22 for the 1st test.
15 Kircnher
14 JPP
13 JDJ
12 JDV
11 Hougaard
10 MOrne
09 Pienaar
08 Vermeulen
07 Alberts
06 Louw
05 Etzebeth
04 Flip VD Merwe
03 Jannie
02 Strauss
01 Gurthro
16 Chili
17 Cilliers
18 JAndre
19 Marcel
20 Jantjies
21 Taute
22 Rhule
ek weet nie wat die groot storie oor lambtjops is nie die griek het hom gister oorskadu 75% hype en 25 ability as julle my vra…..op loskakel anyway
47 @ Sharks_forever:
That could happen. It could be Taute to start at 15 or to cover there. As we all know that is the player Meyer wants to play there. He will rather not play the best players available to him right now on tour and wait until the injured players he really wants there and only then play them in those positions the players that are covering for. Or there to play. Mind boggles.
But yes, you are right. Not gonna worry much about Bok rugby. Just feel for the players as you know they really want to be part of it. Just want our Shark Players to come back home not injured. For me that is what I want. Not worried that much right now about the Boks. Also for the other teams players to come back no injured. Like us all to start S15 with our best players.
55 @ smallies:
The Greek player was dreadful in the fisrt half. Lambie was consistently very good for the whole game. So how can you say he out played him? When he was not great in the first half and Pat was in the WHOLE game. Add up it will come to you. Pat also was very good even with our Forwards not really being that great yesterday. It shows his class.
54 @ Sharks_forever:
At lock it will be Etzebeth at No 4 and Juandré Kruger at No 5.
Flip will be on the bench.
@ Puma:
Ignore it Pooms, Smallies does not like the Sharks or Lambie, not worth getting into it, enjoy a calm Sunday 😉
@ grootblousmile:
you prolly right
my bad lol
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