Glimpse into the future as Bok alignment camp invests in youth

The 43 players invited to the first alignment camp provides a glimpse into the Springboks' future and is a glowing endorsement of the men who helped carry them to back-to-back Rugby World Cup victories.

The two-day camp in Cape Town starts on March 5. 

Many high-profile Boks play abroad and will be absent from the camp, which is an opportunity for players with little or no Test experience to be briefed about what it takes to become and remain a Springbok.

While it is only an alignment camp and not a squad preparing for a specific Test, it should embolden the 16 uncapped players that they are at least blipping the radar of the Springbok selectors.

Jack-in-the-box flank-cum-hooker-cum-flank Deon Fourie was one of the fairy-tale stories at the last World Cup, but his Bok journey appears to have come to an end.

He is 37 at the start of a new World Cup cycle. The Boks probably thought it prudent to invest in uncapped players.

There was, and perhaps predictably so, no room for Hacjivah Dayimani, a player whose game, at times, sees him swinging from the chandeliers. The Boks, however, have built part of their success on loose forwards who kick down the door.

Despite a recent return to form, Warrick Gelant remains outside the Bok orbit. The circumstances that accompanied his move to Racing 92 in 2022 did little to advance his continued selection. His last Test was in the lost cause against Australia in Adelaide that year, and his form since he returned from France hasn't exactly been compelling.

“People see the high profile mistakes he has made, like passing the ball into touch in Cape Town,” Stormers head coach John Dobson pointed out after his side's win over the Sharks in Durban last weekend.

“I think he has been good all season in terms of his positional play and game driving. It was nice to see his attack.

“I thought he was exceptional if you took the key job of a fullback. He was driving that backline,” Dobson explained, while pointing out the relative inexperience at URC level of Jurie Matthee, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Ben Loader.

“He would have been my man of the match if I had the choice.”

At 28 Gelant may still have something to offer to the Bok cause, especially when you consider well-entrenched double World Cup winner Makazole Mapimpi is 33.

The squad for the alignment camp features 19 World Cup 2023 winners, 12 World Cup 2019 winners, 39 domestic players, 27 capped players and 16 uncapped players.

Among the uncapped players are South Africa A backline players Sanele Nohamba, Hartzenberg and Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

After Saturday's game in Durban, Dobson again referred to Feinberg-Mngomezulu as a generational talent. A boy wonder at school, he has looked thoroughly at ease in senior rugby.

Nohamba's call-up poses the teasing question on whether the Bok management shares the view of the Lions, who have in recent months played him at flyhalf and not scrumhalf.

Among the uncapped players, as well as those with limited Test experience, there is likely to be healthy competition for a place in the squad proper, specially among the forwards.

Backrowers Cameron Hanekom, Marco van Staden, Elrigh Louw and Evan Roos, second rowers Ruan Nortje, Ruben van Heerden and Salmaan Moerat, and front rankers Gerhard Steenekamp, Neethling Fouche, Johan Grobbelaar, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Andre-Hugo Venter will go into furious combat when the Bulls host the Stormers next Saturday. Then some of them are likely to end up on the same flight to the alignment camp.

Players invited to Springbok alignment camp (in alphabetical order):

Forwards: Eben Etzebeth (Sharks), Neethling Fouche (Stormers), Johan Grobbelaar (Bulls), Celimpilo Gumede (Bulls), Cameron Hanekom (Bulls), Andre-Hugo Venter (Stormers), Vincent Koch (Sharks), Elrigh Louw (Bulls), Wilco Louw (Bulls), Frans Malherbe (Stormers), Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Ntuthuko Mchunu (Sharks), Salmaan Moerat (Stormers), Ox Nche (Sharks), Ruan Nortje (Bulls), Evan Roos (Stormers), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls), Marnus van der Merwe (Cheetahs), Ruben van Heerden (Stormers), Marco van Staden (Bulls), Ruan Venter (Lions), Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Bulls).

Backs: Lukhanyo Am (Sharks), Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls), Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers), Suleiman Hartzenberg (Stormers), Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks), Jordan Hendrikse (Lions), Quan Horn (Lions), Herschel Jantjies (Stormers), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), Willie le Roux (Bulls), Manie Libbok (Stormers), Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks), Canan Moodie (Bulls), Sanele Nohamba (Lions), Morne van den Berg (Lions), Henco van Wyk (Lions), Grant Williams (Sharks), Damian Willemse (Stormers).