April 12 (Reuters) – South Africa named a 31-man squad on
Thursday for a training camp involving Cheetahs and Lions
players as new Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer begins preparations
for England’s tour of the country in June.
Meyer has to juggle the demands of the Super Rugby season
with trying to be ready for his first test as coach since being
appointed in January.
The first of three “planning sessions” will take place from
April 16 to 19 in Pretoria.
The second camp from April 23 to 26 will feature players
from the Bulls and the Sharks while the third camp will take
place in Cape Town with Stormers players from May 1-3.
“I’ve been mindful of the fact that we won’t have a lot of
time to prepare for England, but these sessions will greatly
assist in getting the players ready for when we get together a
week before the first test,” Meyer said in a statement.
“We’ve planned these camps in accordance with their bye
weekends during Super Rugby and I’ve given the franchises the
assurance that there won’t be any intense field training during
our sessions – it will be mostly theoretical planning sessions
as well as walk through sessions of our planned plays.”
Squad:
Forwards – Coenie Oosthuizen, Caylib Oosthuizen, Pat
Cilliers, CJ van der Linde, WP Nel, Adriaan Strauss, Bandise
Maku, Callie Visagie, Izak van der Westhuizen, Davon
Raubenheimer, Franco van der Merwe, Heinrich Brussow, Derick
Minnie, Pieter Labuschagne, Ashley Johnson, Juan Smith, Josh
Strauss, Philip van der Walt.
Backs – Piet van Zyl, Michael Bondesio, Johan Goosen, Elton
Jantjies, Butch James, Willie le Roux, Andries Strauss, Doppies
La Grange, Robert Ebersohn, Alwyn Hollenbach, Lionel Mapoe, Jaco
Taute, Hennie Daniller.
(Writing by Jason Humphries in Durban; Editing by Mark
Meadows; mark.meadows@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7933;
Twitter: @mark_meadows; Reuters Messaging:
mark.meadows.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; For
the sports blog Left Field: blogs.reuters.com/sport))
