Leinster loosehead prop Heinke van der Merwe has been placed on standby as the 32nd player in the Springboks squad for their end-of-year tour.
When Bok coach Heyneke Meyer announced his squad for the tour only 31 names were read out and it was said that South Africa's national selectors would only decide on a 32nd player to be added to the squad at a later stage.
There was plenty of speculation recently over who that player would be with Northampton's Zimbabwean-born Springbok prop Brian Mujati also linked to the role.
But according to reports in the South African media Meyer has selected Van der Merwe ahead of Mujati citing the Saints front-rower's passport and citizenship issues as reasons preventing his call-up.
Van der Merwe, played one Test in 2007.
Comments
Dannyboy says...
Yeah, great for Van de Merve, but yeah definitely a cheeky way to get info on Leinsters front row. We got the Afrikaneer calls in the line out from Gert Smals, so its just clever manoeuvring.
Can't wait for this game, even though I expect the Saffers to edge it.
Posted 17:17 06th November 2012
hhlamazing says...
So the Leinster front row could occupy 4 of the 6 players. Interesting...
Posted 10:50 06th November 2012
BackingLeinster says...
This would be great for van de Merwe but i hope its not just a cynical ploy to get inside information on Leinster's.. I mean Ireland's front row.
Posted 10:30 06th November 2012