Bulls dominate 2024 Springboks alignment camp
Rassie Erasmus has called on 43 players to attend the Springboks alignment camp as the Bulls lead the charge with the most players.
Detailed breakdown of who the 43 players that’ll attend the Springboks alignment camp play for and how their teams are performing at the moment. Halfway through the United Rugby Championship campaign, the Bulls and Stormers have performed admirably and sitting third and sixth of the log, both occupy playoff spots at the moment.
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The same can’t be said of the Lions and Sharks, who are in the bottom half of the table. That said, the Lions are are still comfortably in the hunt for a place in the playoffs. They are just five log points off the top eight.
But the Sharks are in a big pickle. They are languishing at the foot of the table in 16th place and their miserable run of form will has mostly likely already condemned them to an favourable finish by the time the season ends.
As for the Cheetahs, their last bit of competitive action came in June last year, when they beat the the Pumas in the Currie Cup final.
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BULLS PRODUCE MAJORITY OF SPRINGBOKS CAMP ATTENDEES
Now all things considered, here’s how Rassie Erasmus hand-picked 39 out of the 43 Springbok camp attendees from these five franchise teams.
The Bulls have the most representatives in the group with 12, followed closely by their rivals the Stormers who boast 11 invited players.
The Sharks have nine, but those players are mostly currently Springboks based on their own reputations and form rather than on their team’s performances.
The Lions went from having now Springbok involvements over the past two seasons to getting six player invites to the alignment camp and the Cheetahs have one.
The remaining four that complete the 43 man group, are Japan-based Springboks Faf de Klerk, Kwagga Smith, Jesse Kriel and Malcolm Marx, who are currently injured and doing their rehabilitation in South Africa.
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SPRINGBOKS INS FOR ALIGNMENT CAMP!
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).
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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).
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