Theron gathers Baby Bok hopefuls
Baby Bok coach Dawie Theron made his first move in defending the Junior World Championship title by naming an extended training squad for the 2013 IRB tournament, to be played in France.
Blue Bulls and Western Province players provide the bulk of the squad, having dominated the Absa Under-19 Provincial Championship this year, which also included Jan Serfontein, the IRB JWC Player of the Tournament and SA Under-20 Player of the Year.
Theron did not call-up any players currently writing their matric exams, thus ruling out a number of outstanding players from the SA Under-18 team, including JWC winning flyhalf Handrè Pollard.
Fellow JWC Junior Bok gold medal winner Marvin Orie was included amongst the forwards, with two Springboks Sevens players, Ruwellyn Isbell and Cheslin Kolbe, also roped in to attend the Stellenbosch camp that will be held from 9-12 November 2012.
"It is still early days, but I am very excited about this squad," said Theron. "This will be a first step towards France in June and a lot can happen before then, but it will be good to get the squad together and start moulding them.
"We will no doubt look at those things that worked for us this year and look at how that compliments the strengths of this new group. The camp will be exciting as we'll get new energy and ideas as well as lot of new faces," he said.
Trials will form part of the training camp, Theron confirmed.
"A lot of these players played to a particular structure in the last couple of months and it will be interesting to see how they react to new structures and playing partners," Theron said.
Baby Bok squad: Jacques Rossouw, Sean Robinson, Cheslin Kolbe, Ruwellyn Isbell, Seabelo Sanata, Kotaro Matsushima, Sylvian Mahuza, JP Lewis, Jan Serfontein, Jade Stighling, Burger Odendaal, Harold Verster, Tyler Fisher, Henko Marais, Justin Geduldt, Francois Tredoux, Robert du Preez, Tim Swiel, Carlo Engelbrecht, Kefentse Mahlo, KK Hlungwane, Percy Williams, Hanco Venter, Stefan Ongerer, Jean Nel, Clyde Davids, Jacques du Plessis, Leneve Damens, Roelof Smit, Ruan Steenkamp, Tienie Burger, Kwagga Smit, Andrew van Tonder, Justin Benn, Jurie van Vuuren, Dennis Visser, Irnè Herbst, Marvin Orie, Myles Tucker, Andrew Bekker, Andrew Beerwinkel, Jan Enslin, Justin Forwood, Neethling Fouchè, Luan de Bruin, Marne Coetzee, Sti Sithole, Jacques du Toit, Mornè du Plessis, Freddie Kirsten.
