Rugby World Cup
De Villiers reveals RWC back-up
ESPNscrum Staff
August 24, 2011
Springbok debutant Ashley Johnson looks on during their loss to Australia, Australia v South Africa, Tri-Nations, ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Australia, July 23, 2011
Ashley Johnson would have hoped to have been in De Villiers' 30-man squad © Getty Images
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Peter de Villiers has named the 12 players on World Cup standby should the squad be affected by injury.

The group will feel aggrieved at having missed out on selection in De Villiers' final 30-man squad for the tournament. One notable omission from the party was back-row Ashley Johnson - who finds his name on the shortlist - having played in their Tri-Nations campaign. It appears that Bath's new flanker Francois Louw took Johnson's place at the eleventh hour despite having not played for the Springboks in over a year.

De Villiers is adamant his side are raring to go ahead of the World Cup despite a poor Tri-Nations campaign. And he has declared 28 of the 30 currently fit. "If there was a Test match on Saturday, they'd all be available to play other than Frans Steyn (hamstring) and Patrick Lambie (shoulder)," said de Villiers. "We'll have a full squad to choose from for the first match of the tournament on September 9."

Standby squad:

Zane Kirchner (Blue Bulls), Lwazi Mvovo (Sharks), Wynand Olivier (Blue Bulls), Elton Jantjies (Golden Lions), Charl McLeod (Sharks), Ashley Johnson (Cheetahs), Jean Deysel (Sharks), Gerhard Mostert (Stade Francais), Alistair Hargreaves (Sharks), Dean Greyling (Blue Bulls), Werner Kruger (Blue Bulls), Adriaan Strauss (Cheetahs)

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