Pretoria - A total of 45 players from the Bulls and the Sharks have been invited to the second Springbok Planning Camp, which will be held in Pretoria next week.

The camp starts on Sunday, April 23 and will conclude on Thursday, April 26. The first Planning Camp concluded in Pretoria on Thursday morning. Players from the Cheetahs and Lions attended.

Both the Bulls and Sharks have a bye in Super Rugby next weekend.

“We had our first planning camp with the Cheetahs and Lions players and I’m very excited about the enthusiasm showed by the players here,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.

“The mere fact that the players didn’t think twice about sacrificing their rest week to come up to Pretoria to plan for the season ahead, says a lot about the psyche of our players here in South Africa and it’s something that I’m very happy with.

“I know we’ll have the same vibe next week when the Sharks and Bulls players come together, as well as in Cape Town early in May when we work with the Stormers.”

The third and final planning camp will take place in Cape Town with players from the Stormers from May 1-3.

Players invited to the second Springbok Planning Camp:

Forwards:
Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Craig Burden, Jannie du Plessis, Dale Chadwick, Steven Sykes, Jandré Marais, Marcell Coetzee, Keegan Daniel, Jean Deysel, Willem Alberts, Ryan Kankowski, Lubabalo Mtembu (all Sharks), Dean Greyling, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Werner Kruger, Frik Kirsten, Flip van der Merwe, Juandre Kruger, Wilhelm Steenkamp, Deon Stegmann, CJ Stander, Jacques Potgieter, Dewald Potgieter, Pierre Spies, Arno Botha (all Bulls)

Backs:
Charl McLeod, Patrick Lambie, Odwa Ndungane, Sibusiso Sithole, Tim Whitehead, JP Pietersen, Lwazi Mvovo, Louis Ludik, Riaan Viljoen (all Sharks), Francois Hougaard, Jano Vermaak, Morné Steyn, Bjorn Basson, Wynand Olivier, Francois Venter, Johann Sadie, JJ Engelbrecht, Akona Ndungane, Zane Kirchner (all Bulls)