On Sunday the reduced squad for the tests against England were announced. Once again (!) not without controversy, the initial squad was aimed to be 37, but was enlarged to 38 to accomodate Derick Hougaard for the injured Andre Pretorius. Luke Watson’s inclusion above Kabamba Floors should raise a few eyebrows.

Squad:

Backs – Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana, Butch James, Ricky Januarie, Wayne Julies, Percy Montgomery, Waylon Murray, Odwa Ndungane, Akona Ndungane, Wynand Olivier, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Frans Steyn, Ashwin Willemse.

Forwards – Johan Ackermann, BJ Botha, Bakkies Botha, Gary Botha, Schalk Burger, Deon Carstens, Bismarck du Plessis, Os du Randt, Victor Matfield, Johann Muller, Danie Rossouw, Bob Skinstad, John Smit, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Gurthro Steenkamp, Albert van den Berg, CJ van der Linde, Wikus van Heerden, Joe van Niekerk, AJ Venter, Luke Watson

The Sharks Rugby Union is laughing all the way to the bank as the Absa Stadium sold out in record time yesterday . All 54000 seats have been snapped up by hungry rugby supporters. The first all SA Super 14 final since the competition’s inception in 1996! News 24 wrote:

Who would have thought – or believed rather – two years ago, that The Absa Stadium would be sold out a week before a match. “Some 54 000 seats. How can we ever try to explain to loyal fans there are simply no seats left in the stadium for sale?

“How is everyone thanked for the ongoing support? The only way is to deliver a trophy, and I can assure you the Sharks will be going all out to do just that this Saturday”, says coach Dick Muir, Sharks management and players.

Early on Monday the last tickets for the final were sold and Brian van Zyl, chief executive officer of the Sharks, apologised to disgruntled fans who could not secure a ticket.

Read more after the jump

SARB thought the following information might be usefull. It’s all the fixtures for the Springboks this year up untill the IRB Rugby World Cup, including the Tri-Nations. Check it…

26 May: England (Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein) – 15:00

2 June: England (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria) – 15:00

9 June: Samoa (Ellispark, Johannesburg) – 15:00

16 June: Australia (Newlands, Cape Town) – 15:00

23 June: New Zealand (Absa Stadium, Durban) – 15:00

07 July: Australia (Sydney) – 11:00

14 July: New Zealand (Christchurch) – 09:35

25 August: Scotland (Murrayfield)

Lekker, lekker…

On Saturday night, controversy in South African Rugby continued with the squad of 45 players being enlarged to 46 players to accomodate Luke Watson. Aparently, this was the doing of South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins, due to pressure from politicians.

Springbok coach Jake White was not consulted on this change and is seeking legal advice according to reports.

Although it looks like a bit of a circus, SARB aproves the inclusion of Watson.

[Via: Super Rugby; Pic: SA Rugby]