South Africa will go into the three-Test series without a recognised full-back following the injury to Conrad Jantjes. The Springboks coach, Peter de Villiers, gave no hint as to who would occupy the position when he announced his 28-man squad this evening.
Three players have experience of playing at full-back: the uncapped Earl Rose, who is on the bench for the Golden Lions against the British and Irish Lions on Wednesday and was also named in the Emerging Springboks squad that will face the tourists on 23 June, Francois Steyn, who usually plays at inside-centre and was a surprise inclusion in the squad after falling out with De Villiers after considering an offer from the French club Racing Metro, and the outside-centre Jaque Fourie.
"We have a number of options at full-back and it will be a matter of looking at combinations in the next couple of weeks," said de Villiers. "The deciding factor will be the style of rugby we want to play."
De Villiers has gone for experience with nine players having won at least 40 caps. Rose is one of two uncapped players selected with the Bulls outside-half, Morne Steyn, who enjoyed an outstanding end to the Super 14 series, the other. Goal-kicking should not be the problem it was in 1997.
John Smit will captain the side from tight-head prop having moved from hooker last year. He started his career wearing the No3 jersey and came on to play there as a replacement for the Sharks against the 1997 Lions.
"This series is massive for us," said Smit. "Players in the British Isles get the chance to play for the Lions every four years but we only face them every 12 years and that means some top players will never get the chance to take them on. Things are looking good for South African rugby. We have a wealth of talent coming through and you have to work increasingly hard to keep your place in the squad. The Bulls have set the standard in the Super 14 and their players will bring huge confidence with them."
De Villiers said he would not be judging the Lions by their disjointed opener against a Royal XV in Rustenburg on Saturday when they stole victory with two late tries after trailing for most of the afternoon.
"It always takes a touring team time to get going," he said. "We found that in Europe last November but we have given the Lions six warm-up games before the first Test while we had to play Wales cold. The Lions will get better over the coming weeks for sure."
Thirteen of the side that started the 42–6 romp against England at Twickenham last November, South Africa's last international, are in the 28 (Jantjes and the prop Jannie du Plessis are the exceptions) and 10 of the Bulls side that demolished the Chiefs in last Saturday's Super 14 final are included.
De Villiers has decisions to make in a number of areas, not least outside-half, where Steyn is challenging Ruan Pienaar, and the back row, where he has Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Schalk Burger, Ryan Kankowski and Danie Rossouw to choose from.
