Ackermann names powerful SA A side

Seven Springboks have been named in the South Africa A squad to face the French Barbarians in Durban on Friday.

Juan de Jongh will lead a side that also includes fellow Boks Lwazi Mvovo, Ruan Combrinck, Jano Vermaak and Uzair Cassiem in the run-on team, while Trevor Nyakane and Francois Venter are on the bench.

Eight other players – Lionel Cronjé, Dewaldt Duvenage, Ruan Botha, Wilco Louw, Franco Marais, Thomas du Toit, Ox Nche and Jason Jenkins – represented the Junior Springboks earlier in their careers.

Coach Johan Ackermann said he is keen to see how the players gel as a unit.

'We had some good training sessions and everyone is on the same page with regards to our approach and objectives for this match.

'All the players are on form and they have been training well, so it wasn’t an easy decision to make and unfortunately I could not include all the players in our squad in the team for this match, but we will make some changes next week for the encounter at Orlando Stadium to try and give everyone game time.

'The French Barbarians named a very strong team and we need to be pretty precise in game management and execution to keep them at bay. I do expect them to be very attack-minded as well, so we need to find the correct balance in our approach.

South Africa A – 15 Lwazi Mvovo, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Juan de Jongh (c), 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Lionel Cronjé, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Ruan Ackermann, 6 Uzair Cassiem, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Subs: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Andisa Ntsila, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 Francois Venter.

Photo: Anne Laing/HM Images

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