Johannesburg - The Great Duane is back! And so is another great Bok battler in Frans Steyn as Bok coach Jacques Nienaber adds some tungsten steel to his 41-man squad for the imminent Rugby Championship.
In comes the fit-again pair of Duane Vermeulen and Steyn and out go Marcell Coetzee and Aphelele Fassi as Nienaber keeps his tally of players at 41.
Vermeulen missed the Wales series after surgery after a knee injury, and he will jump the long queue of talented No 8s to the very front for the two-Test series against the All Blacks.
Steyn is over a thigh complaint and will take up his position in the ‘Bomb Squad’, where he covers every position bar scrumhalf.
With these being the summary of the changes, it means the newcomers blooded in the second Test against Wales have been retained — Evan Roos, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Nortje, Marvin Orie, Salmaan Moertat and Kurt-Lee Arendse, with the latter deposing Fassi.
Cheslin Kolbe, who broke his jaw in the final Test against Wales, has also been omitted from the squad as he is only set to be available for selection in September.
Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach has been left out of the squad pending medical clearance from his club Montpellier.
The Springboks will play back-to-back Tests against the All Blacks in Nelspruit on August 6 and in Johannesburg a week later on August 13.
This will be followed by a trip to Australia, where they will play Tests at the Adelaide Oval (August 27) and Allianz Stadium in Sydney (September 3), before travelling to Argentina where they will meet the Pumas in Buenos Aires on September 17. The team will then return to South Africa to wrap up their campaign in Durban against the Pumas on Saturday, September 24.
“We are pleased with the enthusiasm and attitude the new players showed in the series against Wales and that we have good cover in all positions, so we opted to keep the majority of the group together for the home games against New Zealand,” said Nienaber.
“We will reassess the size of the squad for our tour to Australia and Argentina in the next few weeks.
“Duane and Frans are both very experienced players and they each have valuable traits that they bring to the field of play, so we are excited to welcome them into the fold.”
Nienaber added: “It is disappointing for Aphelele and Marcell, but we were limited in how many players we could select. That said, we know what both of them can do on the field and we have a big picture in mind with the Rugby World Cup next year.
“We will continue to keep a close eye on them at their provinces as well as all the other players on our radar that were not selected in this group.”
Nienaber is looking forward to the next chapter of their season: “New Zealand, Australia and Argentina will pose different challenges to Wales, and we realise the importance of hitting the ground running in the first two Tests.
“We will enter the competition with a series win against Wales, which will give us a little confidence, especially after the way we played in the deciding Test against Wales, but back-to-back matches against the All Blacks is a completely different challenge, and we know that they will come here wanting to make amends for losing their series against Ireland.
“The way we perform in those Tests will set the tone for the rest of the competition, which will be equally tough with three matches on tour before playing our final fixture in Durban, but we plan to approach this series one match at a time and to work as hard as possible to get the desired results and to continue to build and gel even stronger as a squad.”
The Springboks will assemble in Mpumalanga on Sunday and will have a training camp in Hazyview before making the journey to Nelspruit on Friday afternoon for the opening Test against the All Blacks at the Mbombela Stadium a week later.
Springbok squad for Rugby Championship:
Props:
Thomas du Toit (Sharks)
Steven Kitshoff (Stormers)
Vincent Koch (Wasps)
Frans Malherbe (Stormers)
Ntuthuko Mchunu (Sharks)
Ox Nche (Sharks)
Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92)
Hookers:
Joseph Dweba (Stormers)
Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears)
Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks)
Locks:
Lood de Jager (Wild Knights)
Eben Etzebeth (Sharks)
Salmaan Moerat (Stormers)
Ruan Nortje (Bulls)
Marvin Orie (Stormers)
Loose forwards:
Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz)
Siya Kolisi (Sharks)
Elrigh Louw (Bulls)
Evan Roos (Stormers)
Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs)
Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers)
Duane Vermeulen (Ulster)
Utility forwards:
Rynhardt Elstadt (Toulouse)
Deon Fourie (Stormers)
Franco Mostert (Honda Heat)
Scrumhalves:
Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles)
Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks)
Herschel Jantjies (Stormers)
Grant Williams (Sharks)
Flyhalves:
Elton Jantjies (Red Hurricanes)
Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers)
Midfielders:
Lukhanyo Am (Sharks)
Damian de Allende (Wild Knights)
Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins)
Jesse Kriel (Cannon Eagles)
Outside Backs:
Warrick Gelant (Racing 92)
Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz)
Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks)
Utility Backs:
Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls)
Frans Steyn (Cheetahs)
Damian Willemse (Stormers)
Rugby Championship fixtures (SA times):
17h05: Saturday, 6 August – Springboks v New Zealand (Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit)
17h05: Saturday, 13 August – Springboks v New Zealand (Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg)
07h30: Saturday, 27 August – Australia v Springboks (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide)
11h35: Saturday, 3 September – Australia v Springboks (Allianz Stadium, Sydney)
21h10: Saturday, 17 September – Argentina v Springboks (Estadio José Amalfitani in Buenos Aires)
17h05: Saturday, 24 September – Springboks v Argentina (Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban)
IOL Sport