Springbok World Cup provisional squad of 51 players announced

A provisional Springbok World Cup squad of 51 players was announced in Wellington outside Cape Town on Wednesday. The squad will attend a two-day national planning session in Cape Town which starts on May 1.

A second planning session will be held in Durban on June 11 and 12 with a third taking place in Johannesburg on June 19 and 20.

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers (pictured) will announce South Africa's World Cup captain on May 2 and his final squad of 30 will be finalised by August 23.

The Rugby World Cup starts on September 9 in New Zealand and the Springboks face Wales in their first match on September 11 in Wellington.

Meanwhile, Sport 24 is reporting that Western Province senior professional coach, Rassie Erasmus, will be part of the Bok management team at the global showpiece.

Springbok squad: Willem Alberts, Gio Aplon, Bjorn Basson, Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, Heinrich Brüssow, Schalk Burger, Keegan Daniel, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Peter Grant, Bryan Habana, Alistair Hargreaves, Francois Hougaard, Adi Jacobs, Elton Jantjies, Ricky Januarie, Ryan Kankowski, Zane Kirchner, Werner Kruger, Pat Lambie, Francois Louw, Bandise Maku, Lionel Mapoe, Victor Matfield, Charl McLeod, Tendai Mtawarira, Waylon Murray, Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndungane, Wynand Olivier, Coenie Oosthuizen, JP Pietersen, Dewaldt Potgieter, Sarel Pretorius, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Danie Rossouw, John Smit, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Deon Stegmann, Morné Steyn, Adriaan Strauss, CJ van der Linde, Flip van der Merwe, Duane Vermeulen.

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