Peter de Villiers announces Springboks 28-man squad for away leg of Tri Nations - Rugby
South African Rugby Union (SARU) has announced the Springboks 28-man squad for their away matches of the 2011 Tri Nations tournament. Springboks head coach, Peter de Villiers, listed the squad which contains six un-capped players on Friday, July 15.
The complete squad details were confirmed in a statement released on SARU’s official website later on Friday.
De Villiers termed the squad as a good combination of youthful and veteran players. He said, “This squad is a good blend of experienced players, with Rugby World Cup titles behind their name, and the form players from Vodacom Super Rugby, with some outstanding
potential. We’ve had some good field session this week and I’m excited about this tour.”
The six uncapped players named in the squad includes Lions’ Elton Jantjies, Sharks’ Charl McLeod, Bulls’ duo of Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger, and Cheetah’s duo of Ashley Johnson and Coenie Oosthuizen.
De Villiers has also included the injured star flanker Heinrich Brüssow and Johann Muller. He further added, “Johann and Heinrich are very important to us this year and they'll continue their rehabilitation on tour.” In addition to this, Stormers injured
prop CJ van der Linde, has been included in the squad after he successfully proved his fitness and passed the medical assessment tests.
De Villiers termed the two away leg matches as a wonderful opportunity for the players to earn their place in the Springboks final 30 – man squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
De Villiers said, “We’ve chosen from our Rugby World Cup preliminary squad – so the players know they’re in the selectors’ thinking for the tournament. I’ve told them that this is their chance to prove that they’re ready to take their place in the final
squad.”
Springboks will play the Wallabies on July 23 and a week later they will take on the All Blacks. Later they will return home to play their remaining two games of the Tri Nations tournament.
The 28-man squad comprises of 12 backs and 16 forwards. The squad will leave for Australia on Friday. The squad announced includes:
Backs: Gio Aplon(DHL Western Province, 13), Bjorn Basson (Vodacom Blue Bulls, 4), Juan de Jongh (DHL Western Province, 6), Adrian Jacobs(The Sharks, 32), Elton Jantjies (MTN Lions,), Patrick Lambie(The Sharks,4), Charl McLeod (The Sharks),
Lwazi Mvovo (The Sharks,2), Odwa Ndungane (The Sharks,7), Wynand Olivier (Vodacom Blue Bulls, 32), Ruan Pienaar (Ulster,47), Morne Steyn (Vodacom Blue Bulls,25).
Forwards: Heinrich Brüssow(Toyota Free State Cheetahs, 13), Jean Deysel (The Sharks,1), Dean Greyling (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Alistair Hargreaves (The Sharks, 2), Ryan Kankowski (The Sharks, 17), Werner Kruger(Vodacom Blue Bulls), Ashley Johnson
(Toyota Free State Cheetahs), Johan Muller (Ulster, 23), Coenie Oosthuizen (Toyota Free State Cheetahs), Chiliboy Ralepelle (Vodacom Blue Bulls, 18), Danie Rossouw (Vodacom Blue Bulls, 54), John Smit (The Sharks,102), Deon Stegmann (Vodacom Blue Bulls,4),
Adriaan Strauss (Toyota Free State Cheetahs,9), CJ van der Linde (DHL Western Province, 69), Flip van der Merwe (Vodacom Blue Bulls, 10)
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