Peter De Villiers has begun planning for the international season © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

News: Smit to lead Springboks at World Cup

News: Sharks plan could show the way for Smit

Features: Have Boks reached their sell-by date?

Players/Officials: Peter De Villiers

Tournaments/Tours: Rugby World Cup | Tri Nations

Teams: South Africa

South Africa coach Peter De Villiers has begun planning for the Tri-Nations and Rugby World Cup by unveiling a list of 51 players for a planning session at the beginning of May.

Those selected will attend two days' worth of 'meetings and logistical discussions' with the national side.

Seven uncapped players have been included on the panel, with Lions wing Lionel Mapoe, Cheetahs scrum-half Sarel Pretorius and Stormers back-row Duane Vermeulen leading the way.

Fly-half Elton Jantjies, scrum-half Charl McLeod and props Coenie Oosthuizen and Werner Kruger toured with the Springboks last November without playing a Test match.

The expected big names have been included, the likes of captain John Smit, his deputy Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana and Schalk Burger, but those based outside the country, like Frans Steyn, Butch James and Ruan Pienaar, were excluded.

"Our first Tri-Nations Test kicks off only two weeks after the Super Rugby final and I wanted to make sure that we can get straight to work on the field with some quality preparation when we get together and not be compromised by players familiarising themselves with our structures or understanding logistical issues," De Villiers said.

"By the end of this series of camps I hope that any of the players we call on will be familiar with our on and off the field systems and the logistical boxes have all been ticked. These sessions are not about selection now - they're about being ready when we make the final selections."

De Villiers will name his first squad of the season on June 2 or 9, depending on South African representation in the Super Rugby final.

South Africa planning session panel:

W Alberts (Sharks), G Aplon (Stormers), B Basson (Bulls), A Bekker (Stormers), B Botha (Bulls), H Brussow (Cheetahs), S Burger (Stormers), K Daniel (Sharks), J de Jongh (Stormers), J de Villiers (Stormers), B du Plessis (Sharks), J du Plessis (Sharks), F du Preez (Bulls), J Fourie (Stormers), P Grant (Stormers), B Habana (Stormers), A Hargreaves (Sharks), F Hougaard (Bulls), A Jacobs (Sharks), E Jantjies (Lions), R Januarie (Stormers), R Kankowski (Sharks), Z Kirchner (Bulls), W Kruger (Bulls), P Lambie (Sharks), F Louw (Stormers), B Maku (Lions), L Mapoe (Lions), V Matfield (Bulls), C McLeod (Sharks), T Mtawarira (Sharks), W Murray (Lions), L Mvovo (Sharks), O Ndungane (Sharks), W Olivier (Bulls), C Oosthuizen (Cheetahs), JP Pietersen (Sharks), D Potgieter (Bulls), S Pretorius (Cheetahs), C Ralepelle (Bulls), D Rossouw (Bulls), J Smit (Sharks), J Smith (Cheetahs), P Spies (Bulls), G Steenkamp (Bulls), D Stegmann (Bulls), M Steyn (Bulls), A Strauss (Cheetahs), CJ van der Linde (Stormers), F van der Merwe (Bulls), D Vermeulen (Stormers)