The selection of 8 uncapped players and the return of a further 6 are the features of the Springbok squad named on Saturday for the 5 matches leading up to the Rugby World Cup later this season.
In addition to the 36 squad members, the national selectors have identified 13 players who are currently injured or will be in rehabilitation, but will form part of an extended squad for the matches against the World XV, Castle Lager Rugby Championship and the Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires.
The uncapped players in the squad are Scarra Ntubeni, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Rudy Paige, Faf de Klerk, Jesse Kriel, Franco Mostert and Lionel Mapoe.
Back in the Springbok fold after not featuring in any Springbok Tests last year, are Elton Jantjies, Frans Steyn, Jaque Fourie, Heinrich Brüssow, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Heinke van der Merwe.
The currently injured players included in the squad are Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, Lionel Mapoe, Heinrich Brüssow, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Frans Steyn, Coenie Oosthuizen, Lood de Jager, Duane Vermeulen, Cobus Reinach, Pat Lambie, Jaque Fourie, Jan Serfontein and Fourie du Preez. The latter suffered a knee injury while training with his Japanese club earlier this week.
“It’s a long list of injured players but all of them are in the selection frame and we’d like to work with them to assist with their rehabilitation,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
“Some of them are close to full fitness and they will start training as soon as possible. We’ll assess and manage all the injured players individually with their return to play in mind and will do what is the best for the player and the team, even if it means that some of them play for their clubs or provinces if deemed necessary by our medical team and in consultation with their unions.
“Coenie Oosthuizen has been selected, but he has a neck injury which will rule him out of joining the squad immediately. We will wait for medical clarity to ensure we do what is best for Coenie before a decision is made on the way forward.
“Even though Jaque Fourie announced that he had retired from Test rugby late last year, we have had positive talks with him and his club, Kobe in Japan, and an agreement was reached that he will be available for 1 last season of Test rugby. As soon as he’s back to full fitness, we’ll consider him for selection.
“Jean de Villiers’ rehabilitation is going very well but his return to play will be strictly monitored before an announcement in this regard is made.”
Scarra Ntubeni (hooker), Rudy Paige (scrumhalf) and Lionel Mapoe (outside back) have been part of Springbok tour squads before, but this will be the 1st involvement at international level for Faf de Klerk (scrumhalf), Franco Mostert (lock), Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch (both props).
Meyer added that Vodacom Super Rugby form weighed heavily and as always there were a number of players who were desperately close to selection, but just missed out in the end.
“This is testament to the great depth we’ve managed to build in most positions over the last few years. It’s good to know we have players outside this squad who will be able to slot in should it be necessary,” said the Springbok coach.
“Scarra has been with us before and he has done a great job specifically in the scrums with Vincent, Steven and Frans Malherbe for the DHL Stormers this year.
“Lionel, Franco, Faf and Elton have been part of the ever-improving Emirates Lions, while Rudy and Jesse grabbed their opportunities for the Vodacom Bulls this season.
Meyer added that he was pleased to have Heinke van der Merwe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Heinrich Brüssow, Frans Steyn and Jaque Fourie back with the Springboks.
“They are players with international experience and we know what they can do. It will be great to welcome them back into the Springbok fold and I know they will add value,” said the Springbok coach.
“It was great to see players such as Morné, Heinke, Bryan, Schalk Brits and Francois play in and win finals with their clubs in Europe.”
“We also talked to Andries Bekker as we wanted to consider him for selection, but upon a request from his club in Japan he was ultimately not picked for the squad at this stage. Hopefully he will be available at a later stage during the season.
“Flip van der Merwe was on our radar but ultimately he has decided to rule himself out of Springbok contention.”
Meyer said that he didn’t want to go into the 2015 Test season without exploring all options available to the Springboks.
“We will be guided by our medical team and specialists to ensure no stone is left unturned as we manage the injured players’ return to play. The players who have been included in the squad because of injuries to others must use this opportunity to break down the door to ensure they remain part of the squad as we look forward to the World Cup.
“As certain players regain fitness, others will be sent back to their provinces, but that doesn’t mean they are out of our thinking completely as the door to World Cup selection will never be fully closed. We talked to every player we thought could add value and considered every option available to us.
“The next 5 matches, before we finalise the squad for the Rugby World Cup, will be very important as we want to ensure the right 31 players are on the plane to England on 11 September.
“We have done a lot of planning and research and are well-prepared for the season. We’ll use the matches against the World XV, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina to fine tune where necessary, but the next 2 months also provide the players with an opportunity to put themselves in contention to make the World Cup squad.”
The Springbok squad is (in alphabetical order):
- Willem Alberts (Cell C Sharks), Loose forward, 32 Test caps
- Schalk Brits (Saracens, England), Hooker, 7 caps
- Schalk Burger (DHL Stormers / Suntory, Japan), Loose forward, 75 caps
- Marcell Coetzee (Cell C Sharks), Loose forward, 26 caps
- Damian de Allende (DHL Stormers), Centre, 3 caps
- Faf de Klerk (Emirates Lions / Steval Pumas), Scrumhalf, 0 caps
- Bismarck du Plessis (Cell C Sharks), Hooker, 70 caps
- Jannie du Plessis (Cell C Sharks), Prop, 62 caps
- Eben Etzebeth (DHL Stormers), Lock, 33 caps
- Elton Jantjies (Emirates Lions), Flyhalf, 2 caps
- Bryan Habana (Toulon, France), Wing, 106 caps
- Cornal Hendricks (Toyota Cheetahs), Wing, 11 caps
- Zane Kirchner (Leinster, Ireland), Wing / Fullback, 29 caps
- Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers), Prop, 0 caps
- Vincent Koch (DHL Stormers / Steval Pumas), Prop, 0 caps
- Siya Kolisi (DHL Stormers), Loose forward, 10 caps
- Jesse Kriel (Vodacom Bulls), Fullback, 0 caps
- Willie le Roux (Toyota Cheetahs), Fullback / Wing, 25 caps
- Francois Louw (Bath, England), Loose forward, 34 caps
- Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers), Prop, 4 caps
- Victor Matfield (Vodacom Bulls), Lock, 121 caps
- Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje (Toyota Cheetahs), Loose forward, 7 caps
- Franco Mostert (Emirates Lions), Lock, 0 caps
- Tendai Mtawarira (Cell C Sharks), Prop, 64 caps
- Lwazi Mvovo (Cell C Sharks), Wing, 10 caps
- Scarra Ntubeni (DHL Stormers), Hooker, 0 caps
- Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls), Prop, 13 caps
- Rudy Paige (Vodacom Bulls), Scrumhalf, 0 caps
- Ruan Pienaar (Ulster, N Ireland), Scrumhalf, 80 caps
- JP Pietersen (Cell C Sharks), Centre / Wing, 59 caps
- Handré Pollard (Vodacom Bulls), Flyhalf, 9 caps
- Morné Steyn (Stade Francais, France), Flyhalf, 59 caps
- Adriaan Strauss (Vodacom Bulls), Hooker, 44 caps
- Heinke van der Merwe (Stade Francais, France), Prop, 4 caps
- Marcel van der Merwe (Vodacom Bulls), Prop, 4 caps
- Warren Whiteley (Emirates Lions), Loose forward, 2 caps
Injured / Conditioning squad:
- Heinrich Brüssow (Toyota Cheetahs / Docomo, Japan), Loose forward, 20 caps
- Lood de Jager (Toyota Cheetahs), Lock, 9 caps
- Jean de Villiers (DHL Stormers), Centre, 106 caps
- Fourie du Preez (Suntory, Japan), Scrumhalf, 70 caps
- Pieter-Steph du Toit (Cell C Sharks), Lock, 2 caps
- Jaque Fourie (Kobe, Japan), Centre, 72 caps
- Patrick Lambie (Cell C Sharks), Flyhalf / Fullback, 40 caps
- Lionel Mapoe (Emirates Lions), Centre, 0 caps
- Coenie Oosthuizen (Toyota Cheetahs), Prop, 21 caps
- Cobus Reinach (Cell C Sharks), Scrumhalf, 6 caps
- Jan Serfontein (Vodacom Bulls), Centre, 20 caps
- Frans Steyn (Cell C Sharks), Centre, 53 caps
- Duane Vermeulen (DHL Stormers), No 8, 29 caps
@ nortie:
Gepraat van swart voorspelers, ek het n teorie dat Trevor dalk een van die bes betaalde bulle moet wees, daai ou se aandele moet sky high wees.
56 @ MacroPolo:
Blind faith and patriotism can only take one so far, fact of the matter is when we are up against a team like the AB’s you must acknowledge that you are facing a side of players who are not prepared to sign for Euro and Yen because they are sacrificing that money to wear the black jersey.
So, even with the best will in the world, our team’s “love for the Green and Gold” doesn’t come close to theirs for the Silver Fern
@ nortie: who’s favour?
Tassies wrote:
😆 sorry, meant flavor of the month
62 @ nortie:
I disagree with you 100% that it is ALL about the black jersey…ffs look at our country compared to theirs, there are many more reasons to stay there than leave the country if you consider their and their families future prospects… but still it will happen.
I also disagree that they have more pride, though they are much more skillful and even more importantly they are mentally stronger… they also have a proper scrumhalf 😆
65 @ MacroPolo:
If SARU tomorrow makes a decree that foreign based players may no longer be selected for the Boks, do you think it will stop the exodus of our players?
Do you believe that the youngsters will stay to realize the dream of playing for the Boks?
That senior players will stay and finish their careers in SA as to add to their caps?
@ nortie: I suppose that I’m simply not the modern day type to use acronyms for every expression I make. ANC, UN, DA, UFO, POC etc etc. Good grief. Am I needing to learn another language maybe?
Person of colour = non-white in the old language and ‘black’ in the new. I’m also a POC in Cape Town’s summer if I spend enough time at the beach.
But I get the nuance.
Kolisi, as much as I like the way he plays the game, is not the Kolisi of 2013/4 and is only in the mix on the basis of his ‘POC’ status. That’s the truth. The other oke from the OFS = the same. Scarra is real class and growing but not at Bok standard (yet). Mapoe is a supurb talent but, in the world pecking order, would struggle to make the top 20. So where are we then? Just asking.
If we’re going to get into politics then we might as well jump right in.
@ MacroPolo: I’m with you there boet.
@ nortie: well, that’s just the point. Are we good enough? I’m not thinking that we are, is all I’m saying. But I’ll back the boys till I snuff it. Doesn’t mean I’m confident we’ll get the job done.
@ nortie: just being pedantic Nortie. Blame it on the ‘excellent’ cab.
@ MacroPolo: Like I do with everyone else, I disagree with you on a number of things MP(because that’s the fun of blogging) but here I’ll totally side with you. The Kiwis have very good reason to reflect patriotism in deed because of all the things you mention. But their is another reason. Their currency is nowhere near as weak as ours so the incentive to pack up house is somewhat less. All the above doesn’t mean our boys are less patriotic. They simply have more to gain. A lot more. AND they are professionals.
69 @ Tassies:
Yep, we will all be backing them, wearing the jersey etc., but that doesn’t mean we can’t look at the facts and come to the conclusion that we might not be the best side at the WC and that we can beat the AB’s.
The problem is that realism is misconstrued with pessimism.
I’m not convinced that whatever team HM chooses will be up to winning the WC, so far his best hasn’t even come close to winning a RC.
Sometimes it’s just better to accept that, even if we love to beat our chests and proclaim that we have the most and best players, that we in fact don’t have the best players and our teams are not up to scratch…..but do that and it’s sacrilege and you can be tried as a traitor 😆
nortie wrote:
The All Blacks were the all out favourites in every World Cup from 1991 through to 2007. In fact, they are always the favourites.
How did that work out for them?
66 @ nortie:
I think SARU has to do it, we should only select local players, its the only thing we can do… but players will leave, hopefully not as many.
@ Tassies:
not even their currency, free tertiary education? safer? good healthcare?… much better than ours, but they still want to go to Australia, things are even better there.
@ nortie:
It is definitely hard to look past the fact that this All Black team still has one of the best squads in history, gosh evem Whitelock and Retallick could possibly be better than Bakkies and Vic in their prime… a position we “pride” ourselves in.
@ nortie: Nort I sympathise. Trust me I do. You have taken much flack on this site I have observed. I’ve even worn the armour for you(down here in the Cape). Like me, I’m sure you are naturally a ‘glass half full’ sort of personality. I know I am. But one needs to be realistic sometimes. This year, our prospects are pretty ‘kak’ to coin a well understood phrase. We are scratching the bottom of the barrel to put together a competitive Bok side. Oh, it’ll be competitive alright but not competitive enough to beat the best. I think some of us understand that concept.
IAAS wrote:
This is not just about how strong they are this year, as they are strong every year bar 1998 period, but actually about how strong the Boks are.
And, in my wrong opinion obviously, I don’t think we are very strong and have such a good squad at the moment.
We might lose to more teams than just the AB’s, it’s not a given that we will beat England, Ireland, Australia and even Wales
nortie wrote:
Except for Wales in the past it has never been a given that we will beat those teams in the last 20 years… whats the difference now? (okay maybe at home)
79 @ MacroPolo:
Don’t agree, it’s always expected of us to beat those puny NH sides and it’s like a train smash when we lose, such a surprise.
The arrogance of the SH side’s supporters that all things NH are inferior is tangible, and any loss to them, or even a win by less than 10 is seen as bad
@ IAAS: Hi boet. That’s exactly right. But its also their problem/monkey to carry. We have a different kind of problem. Perennial underdogs but this time we cannot pretend to have the stock to dream of being the giant-slayer. Hell, we’ll be lucky to make the semis. Going into 2011 we had hope. The squad had real quality. Not quite AB quality but we could have genuine hope. Travelling around New Zealand, most others shared that view in my experience. We were knocked out by an inferior team in a manner which was unusual to say the least. We WERE competitive with the best.
@ nortie:
Thats exactly what I am saying though, you said:
“We might lose to more teams than just the AB’s, it’s not a given that we will beat England, Ireland, Australia and even Wales”
We have often lost to those teams, except for wales. It is never a given that we will beat them, never was.
@ nortie:
The All Blacks are the out and out favourites for this WC. Of that, there is no doubt. Their SR franchises have been playing great rugby. Next week’s final is testimony to that.
Besides the AB’s, this WC is wide open. Any side can beat any other on any given day.
And that doesn’t mean that the AB’s just have to pitch up and win. Sport doesn’t work that way.
77 @ Tassies:
😆 criticism on this site is sometimes funny…..I recall when I mentioned that the influence of the TV producer was the catalyst of us getting a lucky win over the AB’s last year and was met with howls of derision, and when Mallet also said the same he was a fool.
Yesterday Mallet was hailed as the expert because he backed up what some were saying about Joubert 😆
Same guy in the same studio, but it all depends on who’s opinion he agrees with at that point and that determines whether he is a genius or a fool
@ nortie:
and that president was set, 50+ games later… we get bad TMO decisions and bad refereeing decisions… it is not about the TV producer… I am still grateful we had one correct decision.
and I never fall over my feet to praise Mallet.
@ nortie:
Mallet has his own ulterior motives in the criticism he gives… he is a very calculated fella.
Die goeie ou Springbokspan aankondiging. Maak my altyd so opgewonde. 🙂
@ IAAS:
baie interresant hoe die out and out gunstelinge gewoonlik uit die bus uit bliksem vra maar die all blacks van 91,95,99,2003,2007,brazil van 2010,98,2014,om n underdog te wees is goed
Warren Whitely en Jaco Kriel en Duane Vermeulen en Francois Louw.
Dis al wat ons nodig het om die wb te wen.
Nortie. dammit. is jy nog hier?
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