Springboks meet call-ups for London leg
The Springbok squad was restored to 30 when it arrived in London on Sunday, linking up with the three players who were drafted into the squad from South Africa.
Experienced wing Odwa Ndungane, hooker Bandise Maku and uncapped scrumhalf Charl McLeod jetted into the squad’s London headquarters before the bulk of the party arrived from Edinburgh. The trio replace injured wings Bryan Habana and Bjorn Basson and hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle, who has been suspended from all rugby activities (along with Basson) following a positive test for a prohibited stimulant.
They met a disappointed Springbok squad already focusing on the fourth and final Test of the tour against England at Twickenham on Saturday. The trip concludes with a match against the Barbarians also at Twickenham on December 4.
The squad has no immediate injury concerns but a full update will be issued on Monday.
“We let our supporters down and ourselves down on Saturday,” said Peter de Villiers, Springbok coach. “We didn’t look after the ball in the conditions and allowed Scotland to put the pressure on us.
“We’ve no one else to blame other than ourselves and we’ll take that on board in our preparations this week. But the Scotland game has gone now and we’re focusing on a massive challenge.
“England have been very impressive of late and will have taken a lot of confidence from their results and we know that we can’t afford to make as many errors against them.”
The team returns to training on Monday when they will be joined by the trio. Maku (24) and Ndungane (29) have both made one appearance for the Springboks this season – in June – while McLeod (27) is included in a Springbok squad for the first time.
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