No place for Elton Jantjies in Boks training camp

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has called up 26 players‚ excluding Elton Jantjies‚ for a three-day training camp in Stellenbosch on Sunday to start preparing for their northern hemisphere tour.

Nienaber called 17 players based in SA and nine who are plying their trade in Japan‚ but there is no place for Jantjies who was sent home from the Springbok squad in Buenos Aires.

All 26 players formed part of Nienaber’s squads that participated in the 2-1 series win against Wales and the Rugby Championship where they finished second behind New Zealand.

They will be in the camp until October 26‚ with a few of the players set to return to their teams for United Rugby Championship (URC) duty a few days later.

Canan Moodie‚ who is nursing a hamstring injury‚ has been invited to the camp so the medical team will assess the extent of his injury‚ especially with Nienaber and Mzwandile Stick‚ who will coach the SA A team under the guidance of SA Rugby’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus‚ set to announce a group of 54 players for the tour.

The Springboks will play four Tests on successive Saturdays against Ireland in Dublin on November 5‚ France in Marseille on November 12‚ Italy in Genoa on November 19 and England in London on November 26.

The SA A team will play two midweek matches against Munster on November 10 and the Bristol Bears a week later.

The Springbok and SA A touring squads will be named on October 28 with the Bok squad set to gather in Dublin on October 30.

A further 20 SA A players are to depart for Ireland a week later on November 5 to begin preparations for the clash with Munster in Cork‚ where they will be joined by a few players from the initial 34-man touring squad for the two SA A matches.

Nienaber was excited about the camp, and said it would give the players valuable training time after a few weeks of individual training programmes while  getting the players back into the Springbok structures with a tough tour ahead‚ featuring the top two teams in the world in Ireland and France.

“We are departing for the year-end tour next week Saturday‚ so it is vital we get the players back into our usual training programme so they are raring to go by the time we depart for Ireland‚” said Nienaber.

“There are some players who didn’t get much game time in the Rugby Championship and who will benefit immensely from the additional game time next week in the URC‚ while it is important for the Japanese-based players to get back to national training.

“It may be a short camp‚ but we have clear objectives and we know what boxes we need to tick as we look forward to what is going to be a challenging tour.

“We are facing the No 1 and No 2 teams in the world and then we line up against Italy and England‚ both of whom will test us to the limit‚ so the sooner we get into the swing of things‚ the better.”

Nienaber revealed the Japanese-based players have been granted permission to participate in the closing Test of the tour against England‚ which falls outside the international Test window‚ and thanked the clubs for assisting the Springboks’ cause less than a year out from the Rugby World Cup in France.

The England and France-based players in the touring squad will be released to their respective clubs after the Italy Test.

Springbok Stellenbosch training camp:

Thomas du Toit‚ Steven Kitshoff‚ Frans Malherbe, Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx‚ Bongi Mbonambi, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth‚ Salmaan Moerat, Pieter-Steph du Toit‚ Siya Kolisi‚ Elrigh Louw‚ Kwagga Smith, Deon Fourie‚ Franco Mostert, Faf de Klerk‚ Jaden Hendrikse, Johan Goosen, Jesse Kriel‚ Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse‚ Willie le Roux‚ Makazole Mapimpi‚ Canan Moodie‚ Sbu Nkosi, Damian Willemse