Junior Springboks coach Dawie Theron has named a provisional 36-man squad ahead of the U20 World Championship in England in June.
Theron cut the initial group of 54 hopefuls down to 36 following a week-long trials camp in Cape Town, which concluded on Friday.
Players who were not considered for the provisional training squad because of injury niggles, will be in contention for selection once they've recovered and are fully fit.
'It was a challenging task to trim the expanded trials squad, especially given the high quality of the players invited to the camp. There were also a number of players who could not participate in training this week due to injury, and others due to their involvement in the Varsity Cup playoffs,' said Theron.
'However, I am pleased with the group we have selected and I believe they have what it takes to form a formidable unit as our preparation progresses in the next few weeks.'
The Junior Boks will play a number of warm-up matches in the next two months, before the final 28-man squad for the U20 Championship, to be held in Manchester from 7-25 June, is announced.
Junior Springbok provisional squad:
Blue Bulls – Jan-Henning Campher (hooker), Tinus de Beer (flyhalf), Aston Fortuin (lock), Stedman Gans (centre), Denzel Hill (No 8), Jaco Holtzhausen (prop), JT Jackson (centre), Manie Libbok (flyhalf), Franco Naude (centre), Hendre Stassen (lock), Eli Snyman (lock), Franco van den Berg (prop), Luigy van Jaarsveld (No 8).
Free State Cheetahs – Mosalwa Mafuma (wing), Kwenzo Blose (prop).
Golden Lions – Rhyno Herbst (lock), Marco Jansen van Vuren (scrumhalf).
EP Kings – Tango Balelike (hooker), James Hall (scrumhalf), Nicolaas Oosthuizen (prop), Junior Pokomela (No 8) , Keanu Vers (fullback), Jeremy Ward (centre).
Sharks – Curwin Bosch (fullback), Morné Joubert (fullback), S’busiso Nkosi (wing)
Western Province – Ruan Brits (hooker), Eduan Keyter (fullback), Duncan Saal (wing), Carlű Sadie (prop), Ernst van Rhyn (flank), Eduard Zandberg (lock), Zane Davids (flank), Wikus Groenewald (prop), Edwill van der Merwe (wing), Kuyenseka Xaba (flank).
Photo: Petri Oescher/Gallo Images
