Stonehouse to coach President's XV

Pumas mentor Jimmy Stonehouse will coach the SA President's XV at the International Rugby Board's Tblisi Cup in the Georgian capital next month.

The squad of 28 players will travel to Georgia for this new initiative by the IRB, as part of its on-going strategy of increasing the competition schedule for Tier Two nations.

The IRB Tbilisi Cup will take place from June 7 to 16 and apart from the SA President's XV, will feature World Cup 2015 hopefuls Georgia and Uruguay, as well as the Emerging Ireland team.

Back-to-back matches will be played on each of the three match days (June 7, 11 and 16) in Tblisi, with the teams competing in a round robin format.

The SA President's XV will get their campaign underway on June 7 against Uruguay. Their second match, on June 11, is against Emerging Ireland before they finish on June 16 against the host nation, Georgia.

As part of their preparations, the squad will gather in Cape Town on Monday, May 20, for a two-week training camp, which will include a match against the Namibian national team on May 25.

The SA President's XV squad, chosen by the national selectors, includes 11 players from the Pumas, who topped the log in the North Section and subsequently progressed to the Vodacom Cup Final.

There are also five players from the Boland Cavaliers, four from the Leopards and Border Bulldogs respectively, two from the SWD Eagles and one each from the Griffons and Falcons.

"I'm very excited about this squad and I know they will represent South Africa with great honour in Georgia," said SARU President Oregan Hoskins.

"It will be a tough tournament in Tblisi. The Georgian and Uruguayan teams will be made up of players with Test experience, while we all know that Ireland have great depth.

"This will be a great experience for Jimmy and his team and widen the breadth of experience for South African players who have aspirations to play at a higher level in our domestic rugby. If they put in the hard work and stick to their strong points, I'm confident they will have a successful tournament."

They will depart for Georgia on Sunday, June 2.

The squad was selected from the eight provinces in the First Division, but no players involved in any Super Rugby squads were considered.

The SA President's XV squad: Carl Bezuidenhout, Alshaun Bock, Renaldo Bothma, Jaco Bouwer, Uzair Cassiem, Marius Coetzer, Ashton Constant, Ricardo Croy, Martin Dreyer, Adriaan Engelbrecht, Ivann Espag, Vincent Gwavu, Frank Herne, Jacquin Jansen, Zandré Jordaan, Ntando Kebe, Vincent Koch, Inus Kritzinger, Wilmaure Louw, Hoffman Maritz, Kwezilokusa Mkhafu, Lubabalo Mtyanda, Jerome Pretorius, Joe Seerane, Brian Shabangu, Brendon Snyman, Rosco Speckman.