Eleven Sharks players called up for training camp

Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers has called up eleven Sharks players to join his training camp in Stellenbosch. The Sharks players, who were involved in this weekend's 13-28 Super 14 semi-final loss to the Waratahs, will join the squad in Somerset West this evening.

Following last week's injury setbacks, de Villiers had reason to smile at today's training session. Apart from the prospect of having the Sharks players available earlier than anticipated, his team captain John Smit, who's based in France, also showed up and made an immediate impact. Smit, who used to be former coach Jake White's right hand man, is looking forward to his association with De Villiers.

“With Peter there's excitement and passion and I think those two things I think everything will fall into place. We certainly still got a lot of work to do.”

The training squad now consists of 47 players and it will be reduced to 30 on Wednesday. The rest of the players will probably be selected for the Emerging Boks, who'll play in an International Rugby Board (IRB) tournament in Romania next month.