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Zimbabwe-born prop Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira was included in a 28-man South Africa squad named Saturday for the away leg of the Tri-Nations southern hemisphere championship.
Mtawarira earned 15 caps for the Springboks before he was controversially excluded from South Africa’s first four Tests this year after the sports ministry said he should be excluded as he was not a South African citizen.
His return to the squad for the defending champions came a day after it was announced he had been granted citizenship.
The Springboks start their campaign against New Zealand in Auckland on July 10, play New Zealand again in Wellington the following weekend and Australia in Brisbane on July 24.
Mtawarira and utility back Francois Hougaard are the only players in the squad who were not involved in recent Test wins against Wales, France and Italy (twice).
The only player to miss out from the squad that did duty in a 55-11 win over Italy in East London Saturday is reserve lock Flip van der Merwe.
“It’s a strong squad,” said Springbok coach Peter de Villiers. “We are fortunate to have so many of our frontline players fit and available, which shows our management of the players is working well.
“There is a very strong core of experience in this group and there are several leaders too.”
De Villiers said that although the Tri-Nations in itself was a tough tournament, the coming tour assumed added significance because the World Cup is being played in New Zealand next year.
Squad
Backs: Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, Francois Hougaard, Butch James, Ricky Januarie, Zane Kirchner, Wynand Olivier, Ruan Pienaar, Morne Steyn
Forwards: Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, BJ Botha, Schalk Burger, Jannie du Plessis, Ryan Kankowski, Francois Louw, Victor Matfield, Tendai Mtawarira, Dewald Potgieter, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Danie Rossouw, John Smit (capt), Pierre Spies, Gurthro Steenkamp, CJ van der Linde
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