Publications
Partners
SA Under-20 stars Elton Jantjies (flyhalf) and Patrick Lambie (flyhalf/fullback) were promoted to the senior squad after highly impressive debut seasons, while The Sharks trio of wing Lwazi Mvovo and backrowers Willem Alberts and Keegan Daniel as well as dynamic Vodacom Cheetahs loosehead prop Coenie Oosthuizen were also called up to a Springbok squad for the first time.
Two overseas-based players were named in the party in Ulster’s Ruan Pineaar – who will join the squad in Johannesburg on Sunday – and Frans Steyn (of Racing Metro in France), who will be available following the opening Test against Ireland. The tour will be led by Vodacom Blue Bulls captain Victor Matfield, with Juan Smith of the Vodacom Cheetahs as vice-captain.
“We’ve rewarded players for their form in what was a difficult selection as there were a number of others who were part of our preliminary squad who were very close to selection,” said Peter de Villiers, Springbok coach.
“But we looked at the players who were performing now in our selection criteria as we need to be on top form from the first kick-off in Ireland.
“It’s a new-look squad but it has a good backbone of experience for what is going to be a challenging tour.”
Players not considered for selection because of injury were John Smit, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Andries Bekker, Fourie du Preez, Heinrich Brüssow, JP Pietersen, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Butch James and BJ Botha.
“We have the advantage that a number of players such as Juan Smith, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira and Bakkies Botha have not had a lot of rugby this season for one reason or another,” said De Villiers. “When you add that to the number of absentees through injury it means that there are only a few players on tour whose volume of work we will need to manage and this squad gives us options to do that.
“We needed strong on-field leadership because of the absence of a number of those key players which is why it was critical for us that Victor should lead the squad,” said De Villiers.
The Springboks’ fixtures are:
November 6 v Ireland (Dublin)
November 13 v Wales (Cardiff)
November 20 v Scotland (Edinburgh)
November 27 v England (Twickenham)
December 4 v Barbarians (Twickenham)
Tour squad (* Indicates new cap):
Backs
Gio Aplon (Western Province); Age: 28; Test caps: 9
Bjorn Basson (Blue Bulls); 23, 2
Juan de Jongh (Western Province); 22, 6
Jean de Villiers (Western Province); 29, 63
Francois Hougaard (Blue Bulls); 22, 5
Bryan Habana (Western Province); 27, 66
* Elton Jantjies (Golden Lions); 20, 0
* Patrick Lambie (The Sharks); 20, 0
* Lwazi Mvovo (The Sharks); 24, 0
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster, N Ireland); 26, 43
Frans Steyn (Racing Metro, France); 23, 39
Morne Steyn (Blue Bulls); 26, 21
Forwards
* Willem Alberts (The Sharks); Age: 26, Test caps: 0
Bakkies Botha (Blue Bulls); 31, 68
Schalk Burger (Western Province); 27, 63
* Keegan Daniel (The Sharks); 25, 0
Bismarck du Plessis (The Sharks); 26, 32
Jannie du Plessis (The Sharks); 28, 20
Alistair Hargreaves (The Sharks); 24, 2
Ryan Kankowski (The Sharks); 25, 16
Victor Matfield (captain, Blue Bulls); 33, 101
Tendai Mtawarira (The Sharks); 25, 22
* Coenie Oosthuizen (Cheetahs); 21, 0
Chiliboy Ralepelle (Blue Bulls); 24, 17
Juan Smith (Cheetahs); 29, 65
Pierre Spies (Blue Bulls); 25, 37
Adriaan Strauss (Cheetahs); 24, 7
CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs); 30, 65
Flip van der Merwe (Blue Bulls); 25, 6
