Heyneke Meyer

By David van der Merwe

Heyneke Meyer today announced the first of three Springbok training squads in preparation for the Inbound Tours later this year.

The squad consists of Cheetahs and Lions players as they have a bye next weekend and the camp will be held from 16-19 April. Two more camps are scheduled with players from the Sharks and Bulls attending between 23-26 April and the Stormers players between 1-3 May.

The players attending the first camp are:
Forwards:
Coenie Oosthuizen, Caylib Oosthuizen, Pat Cilliers, CJ van der Linde, WP Nel, Adriaan Strauss, Bandise Maku, Callie Visagie, Izak van der Westhuizen, Davon Raubenheimer, Franco van der Merwe, Heinrich Brüssow, Derick Minnie, Pieter Labuschagne, Ashley Johnson, Juan Smith, Josh Strauss, Philip van der Walt
Backs:
Piet van Zyl, Michael Bondesio, Johan Goosen, Elton Jantjies, Butch James, Willie le Roux, Andries Strauss, Doppies La Grange, Robert Ebersohn, Alwyn Hollenbach, Lionel Mapoe, Jaco Taute, Hennie Daniller

With only a handful of previous Springboks it will be interesting to see how many of these players do make it into the final Springbok Squad announced the week before the England test. There are many youngsters in this squad and it does look like Meyer has at least some form of planning in place not only for the upcoming tests but also for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Here is my match day 22 selected from the above players:
Forwards:
Coenie Oosthuizen, WP Nel, Pat Cilliers, Adriaan Strauss, Bandise Maku, Izak van der Westhuizen, Pieter Labuschagne, Joshua Strauss, Heinrich Brussow, Ashley Johnson, Franco van der Merwe
Backs
Piet van Zyl, Elton Jantjes, Johan Goosen, Doppies le Grange, Alwyn Hollenbach, Jaco Taute, Willie le Roux, Lionel Mapoe, Andries Strauss

The players to look out for in the final squad will be:
Elton Jantjes, Johan Goosen, Willie le Roux, Doppies le Grange, Alwyn Hollenbach, Joshua Strauss, Adriaan Strauss, Heinrich Brussow, Coenie Oosthuizen, WP Nel, Franco van der Merwe and Pat Cilliers.

Only time will tell, but it is good to see some of the up and coming players making it into the planning phases of Meyer's squads.

Follow Dave on Twitter @djvanman