The Springboks have completed their first alignment camp ahead of the 2024 international season.
This alignment camp gave coach Rassie Erasmus a first opportunity to look at what he has at his disposal.
In order to do so, Erasmus named a 43-man squad that features 16 uncapped players and fresh faces. He also has selected 21 players who are World Cup winners, with a further 12 back to back winners. Within that group, there are squad veterans such as Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Cheslin Kolbe. Surprisingly Willie le Roux, already a Springbok veteran in 2023, has also entered the 2027 World Cup cycle.
Erasmus also took the opportunity to call up some young fan favourites 23 years-old and under. The likes of Cameron Hanekom, Celimpilo Gumede, Henco van Wyk, Quan Horn, Ruan Venter, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu to name a few. Besides the youngsters, there is also a group of slightly more established franchise rugby players rewarded. That group includes Neethling Fouche, Sanele Nohamba, Johan Grobelaar, Ruben van Heerden, Marnus van der Merwe and Andre Hugo-Venter.
While that list may include some current and future favourites, there are some fan favourites who’ve been left out. That might offer Hacjivah Dayimani, Warrick Gelant, Stedman Gans and David Kriel a glimmer of hope going forward. The snub that has had the most divided opinions on social media is that of Dayimani. Erasmus has since explained why he isn’t part of the Springbok plans yet.
Erasmus explains why Dayimani was snubbed for Springbok camp
“We certainly looked at Hacjivah (Dayimani). When we looked at his roadmap, and I am not talking specifically about him, I am talking about other loose forwards competing with other loose forwards and how many battles you get into and how many battles you win. If you look at hookers and you look at how many tries they scored then all of them should be Springboks. They are at the back of a maul and they score eight tries. We look at your workrate and your understanding. When you make a tackle, do you dominate that tackle?” Said Erasmus as per Rugby365.
He would go on to use Cheslin Kolbe as an example to drive his point home on Dayimani.
“If Cheslin was just stepping guys, we would never pick Cheslin. But Cheslin is tackling guys, he is stealing balls, he is going up for the high ball, so he is a complete player. I am not talking about Hacjivah (Dayimani) specifically, but there are a lot of players that are really good, but they are not complete. Hacjivah is not out of the mix in terms of playing a Test match this year. There is always a possibility.” Concluded Erasmus.
It remains to be seen if Dayimani does eventually force Erasmus’ hand and gets Springbok selection.