NOW IS THE TIME
URC: SPRINGBOK HOPEFULS WILL BE OUT TO IMPRESS
→ More than just points are at stake as the competition heads into its final round-robin stages.
Anumber of local players will have a final chance to impress the Springbok selectors as the United Rugby Championship (URC) enters its end of season run-in from this weekend with all the South African franchises back in action on Saturday.
Players are fresh off a two-weekend break that saw the end of the Six Nations competition, and after a number of them were involved in a Springbok alignment camp in Cape Town, they will be fired up to lay down a marker and push for their inclusion in the national team later in the season.
There is a big chance for fringe and young players to get a lookin for the Boks at the start of the international season as a large squad is expected to be named, with games against Wales and Portugal expected to see very experimental teams named for them.
The first SA team in action on Saturday sees the Sharks, who’re in 16th position and out of the running in the URC, up against Ulster in an early afternoon kickoff in Durban.
The Sharks have a large number of regular Bok players who will be in action that should be automatic national picks come selection time, while on the fringe front prop Ntuthuko Mchunu, who has one Bok cap to his name, will be eager to impress.
The Stormers, who are ninth in the table, take on Edinburgh in an early evening kick-off and have a few fringe players in action, among them No 8 Evan Roos and uncapped players locks Salmaan Moerat and Ruben van Heerden, hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, and utility backs Sasha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Suleiman Hartzenberg, who were all invited to the alignment camp.
Loose forward Hacjivah Dayimani and hooker Joseph Dweba both missed out on the alignment camp so they will also have a point to prove.
The 11th-placed Lions are up against Connacht in Ireland in the mid-evening kick-off and with six of their players making the Bok alignment camp — Sanele Nohamba, Jordan Hendrikse, Quan Horn, Ruan Venter and Morne van den Berg (with Henco van Wyk injured) — they will look to prove that they belong with a strong showing.
In the late evening kick-off the Bulls, who’re second on the URC log, take on the Dragons in Wales and other than their Bok regulars Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Marco van Staden and Willie le Roux, have a number of fringe players in the Bok mix.
Wilco Louw, Ruan Nortje, Gerhard Steenekamp and Elrigh Louw have all made their Bok debuts but are not regulars, so they will want to push their case for selection, while Johan Grobbelaar, Mpilo Gumede, Cameron Hanekom, Jan Hendrick-Wessels were all at the alignment camp so will be keen to continue their upwards trajectory.*