Pieter de Villiers named a 30 man squad for the test matches against Wales and Italy next month. The squad includes four new players. These players are Andries Bekker, Brian Mujati, Tendai ‘ The Beast’ Mtawarira and Odwa Ndugane, who were rewarded for their fantastic form during the Super14. De Villiers said that ” the squad was picked entirely on merit and every player named deserves his spot.”

Springbok squad: Backs: Gcobani Bobo, Toderai Chavanga, Bolla Conradie, Jean de Villiers, Peter Grant, Bryan Habana, Adrian Jacobs, Butch James, Conrad Jantjes, Ricky Januarie, Percy Montgomery, Odwa Ndugane, Ruan Pienaar and Francois Steyn.

Forwards: Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, BJ Botha, Bismarck du Plessis, Ryan Kankowski, Victor Matfield, Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira, Brian Mujati, Danie Rossouw, John Smit(captain), Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Gurthro Steenkamp, CJ van der Linde, Joe van Niekerk and Luke Watson.

Players not considered due to injury: Heini Adams, Meyer Bosman, Schalk Burger, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Zane Kirchner, Wikus van Heerden and Duanne Vermeulen.

The squad will meet again in Bloemfontein on the 1st of June for final preparations before the first against Wales on the 7th of June. The current squad includes 16 players from the World Cup winning squad. Eleven players of colour have been included in the squad which proves that transformation is slowly working, with these players being included on merit!