Eastern Province centre Jeremy Ward will captain the 28-man Junior Boks squad at the World Rugby U20 Championship in Manchester in June.
Ernst van Rhyn, who led SA Schools in 2015, and Junior Pokomela have been appointed vice-captains.
Along with Van Rhyn, eight other members of last year's SA Schools team – Stedman Gans, Manie Libbok, Curwin Bosch, Embrose Papier, Ruben de Villiers, Van Rhyn, Cobus Wiese, Zain Davids and Carlü Sadie – have been selected by coach Dawie Theron.
Centre JT Jackson and scrumhalf Marco Jansen van Vuren are the players from the 2015 Junior Boks group, who were retained this year.
'It is challenging to name a squad of only 28 players, especially if one considers the immense talent at junior level in South Africa, but we have selected the best possible team for the World Rugby U20 Championship,' said Theron. 'This team offers something different to the sides we have selected in the past, and we are excited by the prospects these players offer.
'JT and Marco were members of our touring squad last year, and they will be able to guide the other players in terms of what to expect, while we are lucky to have nine players in the squad who have played against some of the northern hemisphere teams in the U18 International Series.'
The Junior Boks will play a warm-up match against a combined Golden Lions U19 and U21 team at Wits University on Friday, before taking on Maties in Stellenbosch next Tuesday. They will end off their preparation with a game against the SWD Eagles in Oudtshoorn on Saturday, 21 May before departing for England on 2 June.
Junior Boks squad – Tango Balekile (Eastern Province), Kwenzo Blose (Free State), Curwin Bosch (Sharks), Jan-Henning Campher (Blue Bulls), Zain Davids (Western Province), Ruben de Villiers (Western Province), Stedman Gans (Blue Bulls), James Hall (Eastern Province), Denzel Hill (Blue Bulls), Jaco Holtzhausen (Blue Bulls), JT Jackson (Blue Bulls), Marco Jansen van Vuren (Golden Lions), Manie Libbok (Blue Bulls), Mosolwa Mafuma (Free State), Franco Naude (Blue Bulls), S’busiso Nkosi (Sharks), Nicolaas Oosthuizen (Eastern Province), Embrose Papier (Blue Bulls), Junior Pokomela (Eastern Province), Carlü Sadie (Western Province), Eli Snyman (Blue Bulls), Franco van den Berg (Blue Bulls), Edwill van der Merwe (Western Province), Ernst van Rhyn (Western Province), Keanu Vers (Eastern Province), Jeremy Ward (Eastern Province), Cobus Wiese (Western Province), Eduard Zandberg (Western Province).
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
