The Springbok selectors have opted for continuity when they named a 30-man squad for the opening two rounds of The Castle Lager Rugby Championship later this month against Argentina.
Only three players who were not part of the Springbok squad which won the Castle Lager Incoming Series in June have been added to the squad.
They are experienced scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, who has been selected for the Springboks for the first time since the Rugby World Cup in 2011, Gurthrö Steenkamp (prop) and Duane Vermeulen (No 8), who last played for the Springboks in November 2012.
Du Preez’s club in Japan, Suntory Sungoliath, released him for international duty for parts of The Castle Rugby Championship. He is available for the three Tests in South Africa and has been included in the squad. When Du Preez can’t travel with the Springboks, his place in the squad will be taken by Piet van Zyl.
“We’re very thankful to everyone at SARU and Suntory who made it possible to select Fourie,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
“Fourie has been out of international rugby for a while and it makes sense to involve him as soon as possible. Piet was part of the squad in June and we know what he can do – he will slot in without any problems when necessary.”
Vermeulen, who has shaken off a knee injury which kept him out of the June Tests, and the experienced Steenkamp both return to the squad after playing a vital role in the Springboks’ unbeaten tour to Ireland, Scotland and England last year.
“It’s great to have Duane back after he played such an important role for us at the end of last season,” said Meyer.
“It will also be good to see Gurthrö back in the mix. Along with Fourie, they boast 102 Tests worth of experience between the two of them, have been part of very successful teams before and will be able to share a lot of knowledge with the younger players around them.
“We’ve managed to keep a lot of continuity between this squad of 30 players and the squad that did duty during the Castle Lager Incoming Series.
“As I’ve said before, it’s vitally important for the younger players in the set-up to get more experienced and increase their Test caps, but this will be a very tough Championship and we will have to be at our very best.
“Argentina showed last year what they can do and while we are mindful of the threat they pose, our focus will be on building on the good things we achieved in June and improving in areas where we were not satisfied.”
The Springboks will open their Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina at the FNB Stadium in Soweto as part of the Nelson Mandela Sport & Culture Day celebrations on 17 August. The following day they fly to South America where they will face Los Pumas in Mendoza on 24 August.
The two Australasian Tests of the competition take place on 7 September in Brisbane (against Australia) and on 14 September in Auckland (against New Zealand).
The final two home Tests are scheduled for 28 September in Cape Town (against Australia) and 5 October in Johannesburg (against New Zealand).
Only locally-based players and Ruan Pienaar, who is currently on extended leave in South Africa and was granted permission to take part in the camp by his province in Ireland, will take part in the team’s preparations next week in Johannesburg. The full squad will get together for training from Monday, 12 August.
Injured players who have been part of the squad in the last two seasons, but were not considered, are Frans Malherbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Arno Botha, Pierre Spies, Francois Hougaard, Johan Goosen, Jaco Taute and Frans Steyn.
The Springbok squad for The Castle Lager Rugby Championship 2013:
Forwards:
Willem Alberts (Loose forward), 21 Test caps
Marcell Coetzee (Loose forward), 13
Bismarck du Plessis (Hooker), 48
Jannie du Plessis (Prop), 45
Eben Etzebeth (Lock), 14
Siya Kolisi (Loose forward), 2
Juandré Kruger (Lock), 11
Francois Louw (Loose forward), 19
Tendai Mtawarira (Prop), 44
Trevor Nyakane (Prop), 3
Coenie Oosthuizen (Prop), 5
Chiliboy Ralepelle (Hooker), 22
Gurthrö Steenkamp (Prop), 40
Adriaan Strauss (Hooker), 24
Flip van der Merwe (Lock), 26
Franco van der Merwe (Lock), 0
Duane Vermeulen (No 8), 7
Backs:
Bjorn Basson (Wing), 9
Juan de Jongh (Centre), 14
Jean de Villiers (captain, Centre), 87
Fourie du Preez (Scrumhalf), 62
JJ Engelbrecht (Centre / Wing), 4
Bryan Habana (Wing), 86
Zane Kirchner (Fullback), 24
Pat Lambie (Flyhalf / Fullback), 23
Willie le Roux (Fullback / Wing), 3
Ruan Pienaar (Scrumhalf), 66
Jan Serfontein (Centre), 3
Morné Steyn (Flyhalf), 45
Jano Vermaak (Scrumhalf), 1
slegs een vaskop en vier loskoppe ????
10 Overseas Bokke…. including the mentorship of Fourie du Preez!
Phweeew!
Glad that old Shrek (Gurthro Steenkamp) is there to bolster the Loosehead side… but worried that there is only 1 specialist tighthead, which means they will go ahead with the failed experiment of Coenie Oosthuizen at tighthead. 4 Great locks, 3 great hookers although I do not think Chiliboy was needed, and the loosies we all expected..
2 Fullbacks, Bokke are a wing light I think…. 4 solid centres, 2 flyhalves, 3 scrumhalves… PLUS Piet van Zyl in the background to replace Fourie du Preez when he has to go back to Japan.
Not bad!!
…. Unlucky not to be picked was Wiehahn Herbst and / or Lourens Adriaanse as tighthead cover…
1 @ smallies:
Janee bliksem, hulle kon maar wragtig Trevor Nyakane en / of Gurthro Steenkamp vervang het met Lourens Adriaanse en / of Wiehahn Herbst.
Quite a few players from Bloemfontein have been left aside Lood de Jager, Lappies Labuschagné, Philip van der Walt, Brüssow… Uys, Pretorius, Ebersohn ? They do not deserve less than Coetzee, Alberts, Kolisi (??), de Jongh, Kirchner (usurper…), and they play at home. Is HM blind ? Did he watch super 15 ? He favours names and franchises to talent or playing attitude.
Fourie du Preez? He’s a great player but he hasn’t played top class rugby for 2 years, and he’s only playing for 3 games. Don’t think its a good move.
5 @ leon:
Congratulations with your win of our SuperBru Pool for Super Rugby!!
4 @ Pierre Richard:
Quick lesson: Before one opens ones mouth too wide, one must make sure that the arsehole is tightly closed, otherwise the shit will fall right through and land between your feet!
So, what do I mean by that…. name for name, position for position who do all these Cheetahs replace?
Does the 21 year old inexperienced Lood de Jager replace Eben Etzebeth, Flip van der Merwe, Juandré Kruger… or perhaps Franco van der Merwe? Get serious, his time will come!
Uys – same applies to him as for young Lood de Jager…. well he is actually not in my top 8 locks in SA, to be honest.
Lappies is no opensider, so that rules out replacing Marcell Coetzee… so you would opt to go into The big time International season against the world’s best with a man who does not have a single Springbok Cap, over Willem Alberts? Once again, Lappies’ time will come if he keeps performing.
Philip van der Walt – same applies to him which applies to Lappies.
Heinrich Brüssow… the only choice of yours which makes perfect sense… I would have him in the squad looooong before Marcell Coetzee… but then again Heinrich is on his way to Japan…
Robert Ebersohn is off overseas to France so which of the 4 centres would have had to make space for him, which Number 12 centre in fact? The Captain Jean de Villiers? Jan Serfontein? Be serious dude!
Your Orange onnerbroek is hanging out…. by a French country mile!
… talking about being blind….
@ grootblousmile:
Thank you very much. It was close at the end.
I am a bit concerned about how thin we are at genuine 7/8 players. Only really Willem and Duanne there.
We have FLO, Siya and Coetzee as the others and to be honest I wouldn’t be as confident starting with Coetzee at 7.
I would have had Lappies as a 7, probably in place of Coetzee.
Also, picking Gurthro as a loosehead says a lot about HM’s confidence in local loose head props. A bit of a surprise to be honest.
Having said all this, noboddy here will get their perfect squad and I am happy, all things considered.
Go Bokke!
9 @ Stormersboy:
Loosies for the Tests would most probably be:
6. Francois Louw
7. Willem Alberts
8. Duane vermeulen
With Siya Kolisi or Marcell Coetzee on the bench… and maybe they make more sense to have on the bench as they can really play all three loosie positions whilst Lappies is more a Blindsider or No 8 replacement, definately no Opensider.
I’m more worried about’s happening at tighthead prop… Coenie is no tighthead!
Only real surprise is the selection of FdP. However taking into account how the Boks have been struggling at scrumhalf it’s not so shocking. The reality that we saffers have to face is that stocks are low. There are not many brilliant players that pick themselves. We have a lot of competent players with various weaknesses. There are not many players that will compete for a world 15. Our only hope is that some youngsters live up to their promise and come through very fast next year. IMHO things don’t look very rosy.
11 @ The_Young_Turk:
I agree with you, although Fourie du Preez’ selection is a surprise, it ertainly is not shocking considering Hougaard is out for the year and the rest of the scrumhalf cupboards in the country is a bit uninspiring.
Maybe Fourie du Preez can impart a bit of his decision making skills onto Jano, Ruan, Piet van Zyl… and maybe, just maybe we can lure Fourie du Preez back from Japan to SA.
I do not think we’ll win The Rugby Championship in 2013, but it’s not all doom and gloom… just the trend that we are losing so many Springboks to overseas and with that trend accellerating is what bothers me.
If one had to compile an overseas player Springbok side and a local player Springbok side, I think the overseas lot will almost man for man be better than the local one…
*****************************************************
Name some more names and where you would fit them in… let’s build this top table.
@ grootblousmile:
This really illustrates the situation of Bok rugby quite clearly. The only position we have quality depth is hooker and maybe lock and loosehead…
@ grootblousmile:
Ja absolutely. I would have gone looking for an overseas TH before a LH as you say.
Conie gets “drukked” at LH, at TH he gets absolutely smashed usually.
@ grootblousmile:
wp nel wihan du preez
13 @ grootblousmile:
GBS – can’t go wrong with : 9 Neil de Kock, 7/8 Ernst Joubert, Josh Strauss (captain), 2 Schalk Brits – I know you won’t like that choice
I don’t understand the point of FDP, really – perhaps someone can explain it. He’s only there for the home games, surely if you’re going to be using PvZ, you’d rather use him for the home games to give him some confidence and FDP for the away games . If you are happy to play PvZ on the away leg, and believe he will be ok there, then why not at home, where it may be a tad easier?
My cynical mind tells me that Ostrich is so desperate for a couple of wins, and he has identified home games as being slightly easier, and hoping his scrumhalf hero will get him there.
17 @ Bullscot:
Neil de Kock would be a 4th choice scrummie already…
Kom ons wees maar eerlik, na FDP was al die skrummies gemiddeld tot swak, Hougaard voor aan die koor van sleg speel. Jano was ‘n ligpunt, maar nou glad nie ‘n meester soos FDP nie.
Wie weet, dalk is FDP terug oppad Pretoria toe vir volgende jaar se super15, hulle het sy ervaring baie nodig. Kry vir Gary Botha ook terug, dan dink ek die Bulle kan met groter gemoedsrus volgende jaar se super 15 ingaan. Bulle het net te veel ervaring verloor en die jongmanne is nog so 2 jaar weg van goed deurkom, ek dink dit sal ‘n baie goeie stap wees van die Bulle om so 2 of 3 baie ervare spelers in die groep terug te bring, of hul in die beginspan is of nie.
Wanneer eindig FDP se kontrak in Japan ?
Het Gary Botha al iewers weer geteken ?
Dink albei spelers het nog so 2 jaar oor, dalk nie meer op hul heelbeste nie, maar hul ervaring is goud werd vir jonger spelers wat deurkom.
En as Hougaard omgekrap raak en nie wil vleuel speel nie, stuur hom terug Kaap toe.
20 @ ben-die-bul:
Ek dink Hougaard ly aan inkvergiftiging… met al daai prentjies wat op sy lyf is.
Ek dink Fourie du Preez se besluitnemingsvermoë is wat hom onderskei van die res.. hy maak slimmer, beter keuses met minder tyd om dit te doen.
Sien uit daarna om te sien of hy nog op vorm is en gamebreker kan wees.
@ Just For Kicks:
If FDP makes an impact he would be able to go on the EOYT
Super 15 verby, geluk aan die Chiefs.
Leeus terug in die superreeks, geluk.
Nou vir CB en bokrugby.
Hier is my bokspan vir die eerste toets
Willie
Basson
JJE
JDV (sal Jan kies, maar kan mos nie die kaptein uitlos nie?)
Habana
Morne
FDP
Duane
Alberts
Louw
Juandre
Eben
Jannie
Bismark
Beast
Reserwes: Guthro Strauss Coenie Marcel Flip Jano Lambie Jan
22 @ MacroBull:
MoosaBull,
Yip, did not think about that!
I know Fourie du Preez’ 1st Suntory Goliath Contract ran till March 2013… I think he extended for another year, so he might even be able to play Super Rugby for most of 2014.
23 @ ben-die-bul:
Bryan Habana sal Nr 14 (Regtervleuel) speel, Bjorn Basson sal Nr 11 (Linkervleuel) speel, soos in die Junie Toetse.
Verder maak jou span heeltemal sin.
Stormersboy wrote:
Fuck a little pig, but Stormers supporters should REALLY not comment on props.
Coenine is a very good scrummager at Loosehead and gets drukked at Tighthead.
13 @ grootblousmile:
Quite a few names in the overseas Bok side are players who were playing Super rugby this season, it just shows what a big exodus of top players there has been this year, there has been a large number of players overseas for a while but many of them were past their best, so it looks as if the scale has tipped in favour of the overseas player base being stronger than that of local based players. Few months ago we had a thread of players in the Pro12 with South African connections, ok not all of them could be picked for the Boks anymore and there will be changes next season with all the player movements : http://www.rugby-talk.com/2013/05/rabodirect-pro12-south-african-exiles-squad/
Some names from there though that not been mentioned yet that could fill positions that are maybe a bit thin on in overseas list – 4 Johan Muller (captain) and as smallies mentioned 3 WP Nel
There are countless more players in England and France who have been out of the country for a while now.
grootblousmile wrote:
lol, catching up on posts but this is a blow to the short-rib in a fashion that I haven’t seen in a while – good one GBS
28 @ Gena_ZA:
Hehehe
I thought I would put a bit of humour into telling him I disagree…
Regarding the lack of quality we have on the tight head side:
I understand their is new scrummaging laws being introduced.
No more engagement hits and emphasis to be moved to technique and the power of the combined unit in driving the scrum forward – thus less emphasis on the individual, the hit and the bind.
This might be why HM is keeping the faith in Coenie – guess time will tell
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