Eighteen members of South Africa’s triumphant 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning squad were included in the 2011 party when the 30 players selected to attempt to retain the title were revealed in a live broadcast announcement on Tuesday.
John Smit will again lead the challenge, and he is supported by 11 other survivors of the victorious 2007 starting XV. Smit is one of six players who will be appearing at their third Rugby World Cup. Other players who played at the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cups are; Schalk Burger, Bakkies Botha, Jaque Fourie, Victor Matfield and Danie Rossouw.
There are no uncapped players in the squad and all bar three have appeared in this season’s Tri-Nations tournament. The exceptions are looseforwards Schalk Burger and Francois Louw and lock Johann Muller who were ruled out by injury at various stages of the competition. Other 2007 winners, Juan Smith and BJ Botha, were ruled out of selection by injury along with preliminary squad members Andries Bekker and Duane Vermeulen.
“The squad has a backbone of proven title-winning ability and experience as well as a strong component of new stars,” said Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.
“Injury has denied us one or two players who could have been very important to us, but I am very happy with the squad we have picked. We have good coverage for every position and front line players who have shown over the past half dozen seasons that they know how to win big games.”
The squad is made up of nine players who appeared in Super Rugby for the Bulls this season; eight from the Sharks; seven from the Stormers; two from the Golden Lions and one from Free State – although a number of players are now moving on to overseas clubs. The squad includes four overseas-based players in the Ulster duo of Ruan Pienaar and Johann Muller and Racing Metro’s Frans Steyn. Stormers player Francois Louw has moved to Bath, England, but has yet to play a competition fixture for them.
The squad has a split of 16 forwards and 14 backs and boasts a total of 1 224 player test caps with ten of them having made more than a half century of Test appearances, while Pienaar is one short of a half century. The two most experienced players have 213 caps between them – John Smit on 106 and Victor Matfield on 107 caps.
“This squad has the experience and ability to make a strong challenge for the title, but we know it will be very difficult,” said De Villiers. “It has been a tough season to date and we have had some challenges with the amount of rugby the players have had to play, but I’m very happy with the squad. We are on target with the off-field plans we set in place before the season started.”
The Springboks depart for New Zealand on September 1 with a public farewell from Sandton Square in Johannesburg. They play their first Rugby World Cup match against Wales on September 11 in Wellington, kick-off 20h30 (10h30 SA time).
Springbok Squad – Rugby World Cup 2011 (in alphabetical order):
- Name – Province/Club – Age* – Ht – Wt – Position – Caps
- Willem Alberts – The Sharks – 27 – 1.91 – 120 – Loose Forward – 4
- Gio Aplon – Western Province – 28 – 1.75 – 78 – Wing – 15
- Bakkies Botha – Blue Bulls – 32 – 2.02 – 120 – Lock – 74
- Heinrich Brüssow – Free State – 25 – 1.81 – 103 – Loose Forward – 15
- Schalk Burger – Western Province – 28 – 1.93 – 114 – Loose Forward – 63
- Juan de Jongh – Western Province – 23 – 1.77 – 85 – Centre – 8
- Jean de Villiers – Western Province – 30 – 1.90 – 99 – Centre – 69
- Bismarck du Plessis – The Sharks – 27 – 1.89 – 115 – Hooker – 38
- Jannie du Plessis – The Sharks – 28 – 1.88 – 121 – Prop – 26
- Fourie du Preez – Blue Bulls – 29 – 1.83 – 88 – Scrumhalf – 57
- Jaque Fourie – Western Province – 28 – 1.90 – 98 – Centre – 64
- Bryan Habana – Western Province – 28 – 1.80 – 93 – Wing – 70
- Francois Hougaard – Blue Bulls – 23 – 1.79 – 92 – Scrumhalf – 10
- Butch James – Golden Lions – 31 – 1.84 – 98 – Flyhalf – 41
- Pat Lambie – The Sharks – 20 – 1.77 – 90 – Utility back – 7
- Francois Louw – Bath, England – 26 – 1.90 – 113 – Loose Forward – 7
- Victor Matfield (vc) – Blue Bulls – 34 – 2.01 – 107 – Lock – 107
- Tendai Mtawarira – The Sharks – 26 – 1.88 – 120 – Prop – 28
- Johann Muller – Ulster, Ireland – 31 – 2.00 – 106 – Lock – 23
- Odwa Ndungane – The Sharks – 30 – 1.83 – 93 – Wing – 8
- Ruan Pienaar – Ulster, Ireland – 27 – 1.86 – 90 – Scrumhalf – 49
- JP Pietersen – The Sharks – 25 – 1.91 – 103 – Wing – 38
- Chiliboy Ralepelle – Blue Bulls – 24 – 1.78 – 105 – Hooker – 20
- Danie Rossouw – Blue Bulls – 33 – 1.98 – 119 – Lock – 58
- John Smit (c) – The Sharks – 33 – 1.88 – 118 – Hooker – 106
- Pierre Spies – Blue Bulls – 26 – 1.94 – 108 – Loose Forward – 42
- Gurthrö Steenkamp – Blue Bulls – 30 – 1.89 – 122 – Prop – 33
- Frans Steyn – Racing Metro, France – 24 – 1.91 – 104 – Utility back – 43
- Morné Steyn – Blue Bulls – 26 – 1.84 – 91 – Flyhalf – 29
- CJ van der Linde – Golden Lions – 31 – 1.90 – 123 – Prop – 72
*Age as at September 9, 2011
For the statisticians, the above squad averages are:
- Age – 27.76 years
- Height – 1.87 metres
- Weight – 104.53 kilograms
- Test Caps – 40.8
Springbok Rugby World Cup management: Peter de Villiers (head coach), Gary Gold (assistant coach), Dick Muir (assistant coach), Percy Montgomery (kicking coach), Jacques Nienaber (defence coach/physiotherapist), Malome Maimane (technical analyst), Rassie Erasmus (technical specialist), Neels Liebel (conditioning coach), Dr Derik Coetzee (conditioning coach), Dr Craig Roberts (team doctor), Rene Naylor (physiotherapist), Vivian Verwant (physiotherapist), Daliah Hurwitz (massage therapist), Charles Wessels (logistics manager), Mkiti Malakoane (baggage master), Annelee Murray (PR Manager), Andy Colquhoun (media manager).
