Peter De Villiers announces Springboks 24–man squad for home games of Tri Nations: Rugby
South African Rugby Union (SARU) has named their 24 – man squad for the remaining two home matches of the 2011 Tri Nations competition. The Springboks head coach, Peter de Villiers, listed the team on Friday, August 5th.
Springboks have played two games in the 2011 Tri Nations competition so far and have ended on the losing side on both occasions. They were defeated by Wallabies, which was later was followed by a thumping defeat at the hands of the All Blacks.
The Springboks side announced that their home games marks the return of 21 of their first choice players, which were ruled out from their away leg games due to injury. The miraculous recovery of the Springboks’ injured players in the same limited time duration
might bring about allegations again which Springboks were charged with before. Previously, the South Africans were accused of intentionally dropping their players to keep them fresh for their upcoming 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) campaign.
Commenting on occasion, De Villiers said, “We still have a number of injury concerns but the majority of the players who were in rehabilitation have recovered well and are now available for selection.”
However, six first choice players still remain unavailable for selection as they are still recovering from their respective injuries. This includes Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Willem Alberts, Heinrich Brussow, Johann Muller, Duane Vermeulen.
Schalk Burger is still recovering from a hand injury, Juan Smith from an Achilles injury, Willem Alberts is yet to recover from his shoulder injury, and Duane Vermeulen is recovering from his knee injury. The trio has been named in the squad, but will remain
unavailable for selection, in the Springboks home encounter against the Wallabies.
Heinrich Brussow’s fitness will be assessed following his return to the Springboks camp while Andries Bekker has been ruled out from the 2011 RWC contention.
De Villiers has expressed his satisfaction on the return of the several of his first choice players in the squad. He has expressed his concern about the injury problems to their loose forwards and admitted that he is facing “a shortage of fit locks at the
moment.”
De Villiers further added, “We also have injury problems among the loose forwards but I am hopeful that all of the four who are not currently in the playing squad will be ready for selection by the time of the World Cup.”
Springboks will take on the Wallabies on August 13, while they will lock horn with 2011 RWC hosts, All Blacks, on August 20.
The Springboks 24–man squad for their home 2011 Tri Nations includes,
Backs: Gio Aplon ,Frans Steyn, JP Pietersen, Bryan Habana, Jaque Fourie,Juan de Jongh ,Jean de Villiers, Morne Steyn, Butch James, Ruan Pienaar,Fourie du Preez, Francois Hougaard.
Forwards: Pierre Spies, Jean Deysel, Danie Rossouw, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Gerhard Mostert, John Smit (captain), Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira,Jannie du Plessis, Gurthrö Steenkamp CJ van der Linde.
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