Thirteen Bulls invited to Springbok training squad
Thirteen players from the Bulls are included in Allister Coetzee's first Springbok training squad of the season which will begin preparations for a Test series against France in June.
There were not many surprises among the names of Allister Coetzee and his administration’s first Springbok training squad of the season.
The camp takes place from Sunday 5 to Tuesday 7 March and is the first of three preparations camps the Springboks will undertake as part of their plans before the start of the international season in June, when South Africa host France in a three-match Castle Lager Incoming Series.
Also included in the squad are five promising players who are earmarked for possible future Springbok involvement. They are Ox Nche (prop, Cheetahs), Joseph Dweba (hooker, Cheetahs), Hanro Liebenberg (No 8, Bulls), Warrick Gelant (fullback, Bulls) and Wilco Louw (prop, Stormers).
All five youngsters are Junior Springboks, having represented South Africa at various editions of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship. Four of them, Nche, Liebenberg, Gelant and Louw, featured for their franchises in the opening round of Super Rugby the past weekend.
No players from the Sharks or Southern Kings were considered for the Johannesburg camp, because of Super Rugby duty in Australia and Singapore, while Lions players will leave the camp after Mondays’ activities as they are travelling with their franchise team to Argentina the following day.
Long-term injured players such as Juan de Jongh (centre), Roelof Smit (flank) and Howard Mnisi (centre) were not considered for this camp, while the participation of others who have since been injured will depend on their fitness.
Springbok coach Allister Coetzee said he is very happy to start working with the extended Bok squad so early in the year.
“We did a lot of background planning and this camp will give us the opportunity to take the objectives we agreed on at the various indabas, to the training field,” said Coetzee.
The squad, in alphabetical order, are:
1 Nizaam Carr (Stormers), 2 Uzair Cassiem (Cheetahs), 3 Damian de Allende (Stormers), 4 Lood de Jager (Bulls), 5 Faf de Klerk (Lions), 6 Ruan Dreyer (Lions), 7 Jean-Luc du Plessis (Stormers), 8 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Stormers), 9 Joseph Dweba* (Cheetahs), 10 Eben Etzebeth (Stormers), 11 Warrick Gelant* (Bulls), 12 Lizo Gqoboka (Bulls), 13 Hanro Liebenberg* (Bulls), 14 Travis Ismaiel (Bulls), 15 Rohan Janse van Rensburg (Lions), 16 Elton Jantjies (Lions), 17 Siya Kolisi (Stormers), 18 Jaco Kriel (Lions), 19 Jesse Kriel (Bulls), 20 Wilco Louw* (Stormers), 21 Frans Malherbe (Stormers), 22 Lionel Mapoe (Lions), 23 Malcolm Marx (Lions), 24 Bongi Mbonambi (Stormers), 25 Teboho Mohoje (Cheetahs), 26 Franco Mostert (Lions), 27 Ox Nche* (Cheetahs),28 Sikhumbuzo Notshe (Stormers), 29 Trevor Nyakane (Bulls), 30 Rudy Page (Bulls), 31 Sergeal Petersen (Cheetahs), 32 Handré Pollard (Bulls), 33 Raymond Rhule (Cheetahs), 34 Seabelo Senatla (Stormers), 35 Jan Serfontein (Bulls), 36 RG Snyman (Bulls), 37Jamba Ulengo (Bulls), 38 Armand van der Merwe (Lions), 39 Piet van Zyl (Bulls), 40 Francois Venter (Cheetahs), 41 Warren Whiteley (Lions).
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord onFacebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
