The Springbok tour squad to contest the away leg of the 2011 Castle Tri-Nations series has just been named. Sharks captain John Smit will lead a 27-man squad to the Antipodes that includes no fewer than eight other Sharks players.
The Bulls also have 9 representatives in total amongst the 27, with the Cheetahs (4), Western Province (2) , Ulster (2) and the Lions (1) providing the balance of the representatives. The side is obviously short on experience, with so many of the first-choice stars ruled out, but can count on a number of test veterans including Smit, Danie Rossouw, Johann Muller, Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Wynand Olivier and Adrian Jacobs.
Three flyhalves have been included, with Pat Lambie and Elton Jantjies both providing backup to Steyn, while both Chilliboy Ralepelle and Adriaan Strauss will provide hooking cover for Smit. With only one specialist tighthead named in Wener Kruger, the Bok captain will no doubt serve as the de facto cover in this position as well.
Bulls loosehead Dean Geryling is the only member of the tour squad who has never been on tour with the Boks, while five other players in the squad have yet to make their test debuts. Charl McLeod is the only uncapped Sharks player in the squad and as one of only two scrumhalves, looks certain to make his test debut during the course of the tour.
Castle Tri-Nations tour squad:
| Player | Province |
| Backs | |
| Gio Aplon | DHL Western Province |
| Bjorn Basson | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| Juan de Jongh | DHL Western Province |
| Adrian Jacobs | The Sharks |
| Elton Jantjies | MTN Lions |
| Patrick Lambie | The Sharks |
| Charl McLeod | The Sharks |
| Lwazi Mvovo | The Sharks |
| Odwa Ndungane | The Sharks |
| Wynand Olivier | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| Ruan Pienaar | Ulster |
| Morne Steyn | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| Forwards | |
| Heinrich Brüssow | Toyota Free State Cheetahs |
| Jean Deysel | The Sharks |
| Dean Greyling | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| Alistair Hargreaves | The Sharks |
| Ryan Kankowski | The Sharks |
| Werner Kruger | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| Ashley Johnson | Toyota Free State Cheetahs |
| Johann Muller | Ulster |
| Coenie Oosthuizen | Toyota Free State Cheetahs |
| Chiliboy Ralepelle | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| Danie Rossouw | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| John Smit (captain) | The Sharks |
| Deon Stegmann | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
| Adriaan Strauss | Toyota Free State Cheetahs |
| Flip van der Merwe | Vodacom Blue Bulls |
A bride on her wedding night says to her husband – “I must confess darling, I used to be a hooker.”
He says – “That’s alright dear, your past is your past, but I must admit I find it very erotic, tell me more.
“The bride says, “Well, my name was Koos and I played for The stormers
Who is the extra guy?
49-21 = 28, means there is one guy who won’t tour but is not ‘injured’ either
well – so at least we now know how many players we’ll be getting back…
ZERO
@Ossa (Comment 2) : good question! Let’s go have a look
@robdylan (Comment 4) : Spies?
Can some one tell me what the hell did Stegmann do to deserve his spot? Keegan made him his bitch so many times, but I bet you if CSI did a DNA swab of Deon’s lips they will find Matfield’s ass cells on there.
no Pierre Spies and no Zane Kirchner…
Where’s Pierre Spies? I don’t recall him being on the injured list…?
@robdylan (Comment 7) : 49-1(ricky)+1(charl)+1(deysel)-21-27 = spies and zane?
@KingRiaan (Comment 6) : Eish, don’t get me started…
@Culling Song (Comment 8) : he’s not there…
Just to make the the number add up… once Deysel was added, the number actually went up to 50.
So, take away the 21 injured players and the 27 named to tour and you are left with two “dropped” players, if you like, Spies and Kirchner.
I guess Kirchner will go back to Currie Cup (unless he has picked up an injury in the last 2 days) while Spies will probably just be rested.
A certain other site is saying that CJ will hopefully be fit enough to travel, any news on that?
@KingRiaan (Comment 6) : I wonder, if I can get Stegmann deported, would that make him ineligble to play for the Boks? I have contacts at Home Affairs…
@KingRiaan (Comment 6) : Ooooh nicely put.
1. De-han 2. Smit 3. Kruger
4. Flip 5. Muller
6. Brussouw 7. Deysel 8. Johnson
9. Ruan 10. Steyn
12. WO 13. De Jongh
11. Mvovo 15. Gio 14. Bjorn
? Meh. Better than in 2007
@molly (Comment 12) : He was busy on an intense conditioning programme a couple weeks ago, was wondering what for.
@Ossa (Comment 15) : Only really have an issue with 12, otherwise that squad can be described as competent at the very least.
@Culling Song (Comment 17) : Probable, not preferable. Given the players, who else at 12? Would love to see Lambie at 10 though. De jongh at 12, adi at 13?
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 16) :
Olivier will start at 12. That’s for damn sure!!
Pierre Spies has a groin injury he went for tests today he just recently got back from italy so make that 22 injured boks
@Muzi (Comment 21) : Haha must’ve rucked his girlfriend too hard
de jongh 12, adi 13?
apparently Sideshow Zane is also injured
@KingRiaan (Comment 22) : Don’t think he can ruck hard enough to pull anything….
@wpw (Comment 20) : So? He was part of your kick-ass team if I’m not mistaken?
Really hope Johann Muller’s hammie is okay…i would feel very uncomfortable with Hragreaves in the Number 5 shirt. I Don’t think he has enough physicality for Tri-Nations Rugby.
So likely Bok Team-
1.Greyling
2.Smit (C)
3.Kruger
4.Flip
5.Muller
6.Stegmann…P.divvy is going to phase Brussow in slowly.
7.Danie
8.Ashley
9.Pienaar
10.Steyn
11.Aplon/mvovo
12.Wynand
13.JDJ
14.Basson
15.Lambie/Aplon
16.Chilli
17.Coenie
18.Deysel (Danie is starting so we don’t need Hargs)
19.Brussow
20.Mcloed
21.Lambie
22.Jacobs
Sharks V Bulls
1.Van Staden
2.Burden
3.Herbst
4.Bresler
5.Skeato
6.Botes
7.Coetzee
8.Keegs
9.Freddy
10.JLP
11.Ludik
12.Bosman
13.Joubert
14.Richards
15.Stef (C)
16.Cooper
17.I would go for Redlinghuys.
18.Marais/Adongo
19.Kleinhans/Adongo
20.R.Cronje
21.4 me P.Jordaan
22.Sithole
@robdylan (Comment 11) : @robdylan (Comment 23) : Stop repeating me
@Ossa (Comment 25) : True that
@Culling Song (Comment 8) : Spies is on holiday in Italy – saw it mentioned somewhere on twitter
@robdylan (Comment 23) : poor Adi, hardly gets game time and when he does he knows the ball wont be passed to him.
Breaking news!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadie and J-J Engelbrecht have signed for the bulls welcome to the family guys.
A huge blow to wp rugby.
@Salmonoid (Comment 31) :
@Muzi (Comment 32) : Poor Sadie will never see a rugby ball again!
Two very good signings. Thought the Sharks had a chance with JJ.
I think they really missed a trick by leaving out Sarel Pretorius. I’d rather see him tried and failed than not tried at all during this “experimental” phase of RWC preparations. We want our best side at the RWC and Sarel offers a completely different approach to du Preez off the bench.
@beet (Comment 35) : I agree, would have taken Sarel instead of Charl.
@Ben (Comment 36) : Ya Charl just looks off his best. I was completely in favour of him joining the November tour squad coz of form but now we’re ignoring a form player who’s given many of players in our 2 3N opponents a really hard time.
I concur.
I’m guessing that Lambie’s chances are going to come at 12 on this tour either as a starter with de Jongh or as a back up to Olivier.
@beet (Comment 37) : No wonder Sarel moved to the Waratahs. Wouldn’t be to suprised to see him in the Aussie colours in the next 2 years or so.
@Ben (Comment 40) : That’s a good reason to hand every potentially good player a cap.
Shaun Sowerby would probably have raked up 50+ caps for France by now had it not been for that one Bok cap that he earned.
I think Sarel is already a bit too old to hold out for an Aussie call up in a few years time. But the Aussie citizenship that comes with sticking around was possibly a draw card.
Still a good team….
Coenie has been great this year…
SO to Adriaan Strauss….
Danie and Flip are both great locks…(not sure how Muller has been playing)
Great flankers….Danie can cover there too…
Pienaar/Mcloed both up for it….(would have preferred Sarel here)
3 good flyhalfs…and Lambie can cover for 15…
Real happy that Odwa is back…he was the best Sharks player before his injury…so my wings are Odwa and Basson (NO QUESTION)…
Wynand and De Jong in the centre…
With Aplon/ Lambie at 15
@Ossa (Comment 15) :
Odwa before Mvovo all day long…
Mvovo was not particularly good the end of the season…esp on defense…
The Bulls have been a good scrummaging side….
So donno if Coenie to start off the bench then….
@Hmmm (Comment 42) : Isn’t it time for us to move past WO. He’s been tried a few times at the top level but has never come close to being the same dominant player that the Bulls were able to depend on during successful SR campaigns???
@beet (Comment 45) :
Hey I personally would have played Doppies…but in that squad WO is def the best to have in the midfield…a De jongh/ Jacobs midfield will just be far too weak in def….even for super rugby….
The only decent defender in the midfield…
Lambie maybe…but at 12? This soon?
De Jongh is a much better defender than he gets credit for. As for Adi at 13, I think he has proved without a doubt that he can defend at test level.
@wpw (Comment 47) :
De Jongh gets bumped off of tackles far too much in my opinion…you cannot get credit for that…
Adi can def hold his own…but him and De Jongh alongside each other is going to be a stretch…
Play it and you’ll see it…
I still say Doppies should have been called up to cover for the watered down 3N team…esp on S15 performance…
@wpw (Comment 47) : We’ll talk in a few weeks time. We can just hope he is a sub and not a starter.
Yeah ol’ Spies has decided to go for a holiday in Italy and now has been said to have a groin “injury” so he cannot tour. I hope they start Lambie, whether it is from fullback or flyhalf – I don’t really care.