South Africa reveals the provisional squad for Rugby World Cup 2011
South Africa has named a 51-member provisional squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup that will kick off later this year in September. Seven uncapped players have been including in the squad by the selectors.
The entire squad will attend the world cup preparation discussions divided in to three phases in various cities of South Africa. The first discussion will be held in Cape Town on 1st May.
South African coach, Peter de Villiers, announced the preliminary squad in Wellington on Tuesday, 19th April. He will decide the Springboks skipper on the 2nd of May and the final crew of 30 players would be announced on 23rd
August.
New Zealand is hosting the upcoming Rugby World Cup and South Africa would be defending its title. South Africa won the last world cup, defeating England in the final in Paris. Peter de Villiers is hopeful about defending the title successfully and said
that the best team would be announced for the year’s biggest rugby event. His side would take on the Wales in their opening clash in Wellington on 11th September, 2011.
Peter de Villiers said that a large crew was announced to consider the young talent that has been busy in the Super Rugby season. Top three sides including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are engaged in the same championship which reflects the determination
and fervor in their world cup preparations.
Peter de Villiers has introduced seven brand new faces in his large squad. The squad also includes 17 members from the world title claiming side of 2007 including skipper, John Smit, Victor Matfield and Jaque Fourie.
On the other hand, among the uncapped seven players, Lionel Mapoe, scrum-half, Sarel Pretorius, and Duane Vermeulen are totally new for the side and the rest of the four players, Elton Jantjies, Charl McLeod, Coenie Oosthuizen and Werner Kruger, have earlier
travelled to England and Ireland along with their team but not included in the playing team.
The chief executive officer of South African Rugby Union, Jurie Roux, backed up the announcement and said that this would better aid the selectors to pick the best players for the Rugby World Cup 2011. He added that the provisional squad has been named after
consulting national and provincial selectors.
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