SARU name 51-man Bok squad

Wellington - The South African Rugby Union on Wednesday named 51 players who have been called to a national team planning session at the start of next month. The players will attend two days of meetings and logistical discussions in the first of three national camps in preparation for the international season.

“SARU’s priority is first and foremost with Springbok preparations in this Rugby World Cup year and with the support of the provinces our national teams department has been able to plan three squad get-togethers during Vodacom Super Rugby,” explained Jurie Roux, SARU CEO.

“There are many demands on the Springboks as well as off-field operational matters to be attended to in a Rugby Wold Cup year and as part of Peter de Villiers’ long-term planning he requested that time be made now so that the team can get straight to on-field work once they gather for the first Tests of the year in July.”

De Villiers said: “Our first Tri-Nations Test kicks off only two weeks after the Vodacom Super Rugby final and I wanted to make sure that we can get straight to work on the field with some quality preparation when we get together and not be compromised by players familiarising themselves with our structures or understanding logistical issues.

“By the end of this series of camps I hope that any of the players we call on will be familiar with our on and off the field systems and the logistical boxes have all been ticked. These sessions are not about selection now – they’re about being ready when we make the final selections.”

The selectors named seven uncapped players in the planning group although only three of them are not already Springboks: wing Lionel Mapoe, scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius and looseforward Duane Vermeulen.

The four uncapped Springboks among the group are flyhalf Elton Jantjies, scrumhalf Charl McLeod and props Coenie Oosthuizen and Werner Kruger. All four appeared for the Springboks against the Barbarians in December, 2010.

Overseas based players were not considered for the sessions.

The closed planning session will take place in Cape Town on May 1-2.

The first Springbok squad of the season will be named on July 2 or 9, depending on South African representation in the Vodacom Super Rugby final.

The players called to the national team planning session are (in alphabetical order):

Player	Province	Tests
Willem Alberts	The Sharks	3
Gio Aplon	DHL Western Province	13
Bjorn Basson	Vodacom Blue Bulls	4
Andries Bekker	DHL Western Province	24
Bakkies Botha	Vodacom Blue Bulls	72
Heinrich Brüssow	Toyota Free State Cheetahs	13
Schalk Burger	DHL Western Province	63
Keegan Daniel	The Sharks	1
Juan de Jongh	DHL Western Province	6
Jean de Villiers	DHL Western Province	67
Bismarck du Plessis	The Sharks	36
Jannie du Plessis	The Sharks	24
Fourie du Preez	Vodacom Blue Bulls	55
Jaque Fourie	DHL Western Province	62
Peter Grant	DHL Western Province	5
Bryan Habana	DHL Western Province	68
Alistair Hargreaves	The Sharks	2
Francois Hougaard	Vodacom Blue Bulls	8
Adi Jacobs	The Sharks	32
Elton Jantjies	MTN Golden Lions	-
Ricky Januarie	DHL Western Province	47
Ryan Kankowski	The Sharks	17
Zane Kirchner	Vodacom Blue Bulls	14
Werner Kruger	Vodacom Blue Bulls	-
Pat Lambie	The Sharks	4
Francois Louw	DHL Western Province	7
Bandise Maku	MTN Golden Lions	1
Lionel Mapoe	MTN Golden Lions	-
Victor Matfield	Vodacom Blue Bulls	105
Charl McLeod	The Sharks	-
Tendai Mtawarira	The Sharks	26
Waylon Murray	MTN Golden Lions	3
Lwazi Mvovo	The Sharks	2
Odwa Ndungane	The Sharks	7
Wynand Olivier	Vodacom Blue Bulls	31
Coenie Oosthuizen	Toyota Free State Cheetahs	-
JP Pietersen	The Sharks	36
Dewaldt Potgieter	Vodacom Blue Bulls	6
Sarel Pretorius	GWK Griquas	-
Chiliboy Ralepelle	Vodacom Blue Bulls	18
Danie Rossouw	Vodacom Blue Bulls	54
John Smit	The Sharks	102
Juan Smith	Toyota Free State Cheetahs	69
Pierre Spies	Vodacom Blue Bulls	40
Gurthrö Steenkamp	Vodacom Blue Bulls	31
Deon Stegmann	Vodacom Blue Bulls	4
Morné Steyn	Vodacom Blue Bulls	25
Adriaan Strauss	Toyota Free State Cheetahs	9
CJ van der Linde	DHL Western Province	69
Flip van der Merwe	Vodacom Blue Bulls	10
Duane Vermeulen	DHL Western Province	-