Theron chooses Junior Boks
There were 56 players at a week-long camp that ended on April 1 in rainy Cape Town.
From the 56, he has named a provisional 36-man training squad in preparation for the World Under-20 Championship due to take place in Manchester, England, in June this year. At the Championship the squad will be 28 players.
England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy have the advantage that their teams have just finished the Six Nations U-20 championship, which Wales won.
The South African side will play matches over the next two months in preparation.
While the 56 were in Cape Town they underwent fitness, skills and medical testing.
Some players were ruled out for at least two weeks because of injuries and may be considered later.
In 2015, the Baby Boks came third behind New Zealand and England. Three members of that team are among the 36 – JT Jackson, Tinus de Beer and Marco Jansen van Vuren.
Also in the squad is the 2014 Craven Week Player of the Year, Curwin Bosch as well as 2015 Craven Week player of the Year, Ernst van Rhyn. There are 2015 SA Schools players in the squad – Ernst van Rhyn, Carlü Sadie, Handré Stassen, Stedman Gans and Manie Libbok.
"It was a challenging task to trim the expanded trials squad, especially given the high quality of the players invited to the camp. There was also a number of players who could not participate in training this week because of injury, and others because of their involvement in the Varsity Cup Semi-finals and finals as we wanted to avoid the risk of injuries.
"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 progress in the next few weeks," Theron said.
The players selected for the provisional training squad will remain in Cape Town, with their training base in Stellenbosch.
Provisional Training Squad
From 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 Naudé (centre)
Handré Stassen (lock)
Eli Snyman (lock)
Franco van den Berg (prop)
Luigy van Jaarsveld (No.8)
From Free State Cheetahs
Mosalwa Mafuma (wing)
Kwenzo Blose (prop)
From Golden Lions
Rhyno Herbst (lock)
Marco Jansen van Vuren (scrumhalf)
From Eastern Province
Tango Balelike (hooker)
James Hall (scrumhalf)
Nicolaas Oosthuizen (prop)
Junior Pokomela (No.8)
Keanu Vers (fullback)
Jeremy Ward (centre)
From Sharks
Curwin Bosch (fullback)
Morné Joubert (fullback)
S’busiso Nkosi (wing)
From Western Province
Ruan Brits (hooker)
Eduan Keyter (fullback)
Duncan Saal (wing)
Carlü Sadie (prop)
Ernst van Rhyn (flank)
Eduard Zandberg (lock)
Zane Davids (flank)
Wikus Groenewald (prop)
Edwill van der Merwe (wing)
Kuyenseka Xaba (flank)
Mangement Team
Head Coach: Dawie Theron
Assistant coach backline: Nazeem Adams
Defence coach: Joey Mongalo
Analyst: Chris Ventre
Doctor: Dr Jerome Mampane
Physiotherapist: Anuerin Robyn
Conditioning coach: André Smit
Media Liaison: Zeena Isaacs
