Bok squad named

NAMIBIAN rugby coach John Williams on Wednesday announced a strong Namibia Invitation squad to face the Springboks in a historic match at the Hage Geingob National Rugby Stadium next Friday.

The Namibian Invitation team will be captained by prop Kees Lensing and includes four national Namibian players in the starting 15 and a further five Namibians on the bench.
The Namibian players in the starting line-up are Lensing, wing Llewellyn Winckler, eighthman Jacques Burger and flank Jacques Nieuwenhuis, while the Namibians on the bench are hooker Hugo Horn, props Johnny Redelinghuys and Ruan Vermeulen, scrumhalf Jurie van Tonder and fullback Chrysander Botha.
The rest of the squad consists of top South African players who could still come into the reckoning for the Springboks. Williams said they gave preference to tested combinations in their selection, which explains why the tight five is predominantly from the Free States. Besides the lock pairing of Breedt and De Villiers, Free State hooker Richard Straus and prop Kobus Caldo have also been selected. The Namibian Invitation team will face a strong Springbok side that will be led by their World Cup-winning captain John Smit.
Top players from the Blue Bulls like Bryan Habana, Fourie du Preez, Victor Matfield and Pierre Spies have not been selected for the match since they are still involved in the knockout stages of the Super 14 competition.
The match, which will take place on Friday evening, May 29, will be the first time that the Springboks will be in action in Africa outside of South Africa.
The match is being sponsored by MTC to an amount of N$480 000.
The teams are as follows:
Namibian Invitation XV:
Jaco van der Westhuizen, Tonderai Chavanga, Frikkie Welsh, Meyer Bosman, Llewellyn Winckler, Derick Hougaard, Rory Kockott, Jacques Burger, Duane Vermeulen, Jacques Nieuwenhuis, Nico Breedt, Dawid de Villiers, Kobus Caldo, Richard Strauss and Kees Lensing (captain).
Reserves: Hugo Horn, Johnny Redelinghuys, Ruan Vermeulen, Anton van Zyl, Wayne Julies, Jurie van Tonder and Chrysander Botha.
Springboks:
Earl Rose, Jongi Nokwe, JP Pietersen, Odwa Ndungane, Morgan Newman, Jean de Villiers, Adrian Jacobs, Peter Grant, Enrico Januarie, Jano Vermaak, Ryan Kankowski, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Heinrich Brussouw, Jean Deysel, Andries Bekker, Johan Muller, Steven Sykes, Tendai Mtawarira, John Smit (captain), Bismarck du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss and Wian du Preez. – www.namibiasport.com.na