Jannie man alone as Bok tighthead

The Springbok selectors have named a 30-man squad for The Rugby Championship that includes 5 props, 4 of which are looseheads, meaning Coenie Oosthuizen will be the backup at 3.

In a move that quite clearly ends any hint of preference being given to locally based players, 3 players have been added to the squad which did duty in the recent quadrangular.

Fourie du Preez, selected for the Springboks for the first time since the Rugby World Cup in 2011, Gurthrö Steenkamp and Duane Vermeulen, who last played for the Springboks in November 2012, come into the squad.

Du Preez’s club in Japan, Suntory Sungoliath, have released him only for the three Tests in South Africa, so Piet van Zyl will travel for the away tests.

It is difficult to fathom what Lourens Adriaanse has done wrong at tighthead propr given that he was not given a single second of game time in the quadrangular, while Wiehahn Herbst seems to have fallen right out of favour. Pat Cilliers is making his way back from injury, but that did not stop the selectors from selecting Vermeulen. So instead of one of those three as backup to the monstrously overplayed Janie du Plessis, the selectors have gone with 4 looseheads, one of which, most likely Oosthuizen, will have to back up du Plessis on the bench. It is a very difficult selection to fathom, let alone explain.

The 30-man Springbok squad for the first two legs of the Rugby Championships:

Backs: Bjorn Basson, JJ Engelbrecht, Bryan Habana, Juan de Jongh, Zane Kirchner, Patrick Lambie, Ruan Pienaar, Fourie du Preez, Willie le Roux, Jan Serfontein, Morné Steyn, Jano Vermaak, Jean de Villiers (captain)

Forwards: Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Juandre Kruger, Francois Louw, Flip van der Merwe, Franco van der Merwe, Tendai Mtawarira, Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Adriaan Strauss, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Duane Vermeulen

“We’re very thankful to everyone at SARU and Suntory who made it possible to select Fourie,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.

Vermeulen, who has shaken off a knee injury which kept him out of the June Tests, and the experienced Steenkamp both return to the squad after playing roles in the tour to Ireland, Scotland and England last year.

“It’s great to have Duane back after he played such an important role for us at the end of last season,” said Meyer.

“It will also be good to see Gurthrö back in the mix. Along with Fourie, they boast 102 Tests worth of experience between the two of them.

“We’ve managed to keep a lot of continuity between this squad of 30 players and the squad that did duty during the Incoming Series.

“As I’ve said before, it’s vitally important for the younger players in the set-up to get more experienced and increase their Test caps, but this will be a very tough Championship and we will have to be at our very best.

“Argentina showed last year what they can do and while we are mindful of the threat they pose, our focus will be on building on the good things we achieved in June and improving in areas where we were not satisfied.”

The Springboks will open their Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina at the FNB Stadium in Soweto as part of the Nelson Mandela Sport & Culture Day celebrations on 17 August.

The following day they fly to South America where they will face Argentina in Mendoza on 24 August.

The two Australasian Tests of the competition take place on 7 September in Brisbane (against Australia) and on 14 September in Auckland (against New Zealand).

The final two home Tests are scheduled for 28 September in Cape Town (against Australia) and 5 October in Johannesburg (against New Zealand).

Only locally-based players and Ruan Pienaar, who is currently on extended leave in South Africa and was granted permission to take part in the camp by his province in Ireland, will take part in the team’s preparations next week in Johannesburg. The full squad will get together for training from Monday, 12 August.

Injured players who have been part of the squad in the last two seasons, but were not considered, are Frans Malherbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Arno Botha, Pierre Spies, Francois Hougaard, Johan Goosen, Jaco Taute and Frans Steyn.