George Herald | Junior trio called up to bok camp

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Junior trio called up to bok camp
13:51 (GMT+2), Wed, 02 May 2012

NATIONAL NEWS - Three members of the wider SA Under-20 squad were called up to the Springbok planning camp that started in Cape Town on Wednesday morning.

The SA Rugby Union said centres Pat Howard and Kobus van Wyk, as well as prop Oliver Kebble, were drafted into the planning camp after Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer consulted with the national selectors, Peter Jooste and Ian McIntosh, as well as SA U-20 coach Dawie Theron.

Howard and Kebble made the final squad of 28 for the IRB Junior World Championship in Cape Town and Stellenbosch in June.

Van Wyk was part of the wider training group and is on standby should he be needed as injury cover. All three are based in Cape Town.

"It's always been part of our planning to work with the SA Under-20s when possible and this is the ideal opportunity to work with Oliver, Pat and Kobus, like we did last week with Pieter Steph du Toit [in Pretoria]," Meyer said.

"I'm excited to work with these youngsters because they are the future of rugby in our country."

Meanwhile, five Western Province players that were part of the initial group invited to the camp were withdrawn on request of their union ahead of their Vodacom Cup quarterfinal against the Golden Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

Meyer said they had no problem releasing Deon Carstens (prop), Quinn Roux (lock), Nic Groom (scrum-half), Marcel Brache (centre) and Danie Poolman (wing).

"We always said we would not stand in the way of teams preparing for the Vodacom Cup, which is why we also released a number of the Sharks XV players earlier from our camp last week," he said.

"The provinces have been superb in assisting us with these planning camps."

Source : Sapa