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Handre Pollard among the 13 additions to South Africa's training squad

Handre Pollard is among the additions to the Springboks training squad after playing for the Super Rugby Bulls last weekend in Wellington (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

Duane Vermeulen, Handre Pollard (both Bulls), Lukhanyo Am, Sibusiso Nkosi (both Sharks) and Francois Louw (Bath) are among a group of 13 players who have been added to the Springbok training group in Pretoria in preparation of the forthcoming Rugby Championship.

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The Bulls and the Sharks completed their Super Rugby commitments last weekend, meaning their invited players can join the current national training group. The squad has been in camp since last weekend and the attendance will now increase to 39 players.

Ruan Botha (Sharks, foot surgery), Dan du Preez (Sharks, rib fracture), Warren Whiteley (Lions, knee surgery), Damian Willemse (Stormers, knee surgery) and Jan Serfontein (ankle surgery) were not considered for the training camp due to injury.

Rassie Erasmus, the Springbok director of rugby, said his management was very pleased with the amount of work they were able to do with the reduced size group during the past week in Pretoria.

“After our series of alignment camps, it was great to get the available group of players together and to get going with our field sessions,” said Erasmus.

“Kwagga Smith has recovered from his hamstring strain and was cleared to return to training, which meant that we were able to have 25 players available for our daily field training sessions. Our captain, Siya Kolisi, is continuing with his rehabilitation and the aim is to have him ready in time for the start of the Rugby Championship.”

The Springboks will kick off their shortened Championship campaign on July 20 against the Wallabies in Johannesburg, which will be followed a week later by the keenly awaited rematch with New Zealand in Wellington – the scene of last year’s epic away-win against the All Blacks.

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The Boks will conclude their official campaign against Argentina two weeks later on August 10 in Salta, while the same two teams are set to meet again a week later in Pretoria in a once-off Test before the Boks report for World Cup training duty.

REVISED SPRINGBOK SQUAD 

Forwards – Schalk Brits (Bulls), Marcell Coetzee (Ulster), Lood de Jager (Bulls), Dan du Preez (Sharks), Thomas du Toit (Sharks), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Stormers), Rynardt Elstadt (Toulouse), Eben Etzebeth (Stormers), Lizo Gqoboka (Bulls), Steven Kitshoff (Stormers), Vincent Koch (Saracens), Siya Kolisi (Stormers), Francois Louw (Bath), Frans Malherbe (Stormers), Malcolm Marx (Lions), Bongi Mbonambi (Stormers), Tendai Mtawarira (Sharks), Franco Mostert (Gloucester), Trevor Nyakane (Bulls), Marvin Orie (Lions), Kwagga Smith (Lions), RG Snyman (Bulls), Duane Vermeulen (Bulls);

Backs: Lukhanyo Am (Sharks), Damian de Allende (Stormers), Andre Esterhuizen (Sharks), Faf de Klerk (Sale), Aphiwe Dyantyi (Lions), Warrick Gelant (Bulls), Elton Jantjies (Lions), Herschel Jantjies (Stormers), Cheslin Kolbe (Toulouse), Jesse Kriel (Bulls), Dillyn Lleyds (Stormers), Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks), Sibusiso Nkosi (Sharks), Willie le Roux (Verblitz), Handre Pollard (Bulls), Cobus Reinach (Northampton), Frans Steyn (Montpellier).

WATCH: Part one of the two-part RugbyPass documentary on what fans can expect in Japan at this year’s World Cup

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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