The following nominations have been submitted:-
Loosehead Prop: Dave Kilcoyne (Munster); Eric O’Sullivan (Ulster); Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh)
Hooker: Epalahame Faiva (Benetton Rugby); Rob Herring (Ulster); Ken Owens (Scarlets)
Tighthead Prop: Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), WP Nel (Edinburgh), Marco Riccioni (Benetton Rugby)
No 4 lock: Tadhg Beirne (Munster), Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors), Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby)
No 5 lock: Scott Fardy (Leinster); Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors); Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys)
Openside flank: Max Deegan (Leinster); Peter O’Mahony (Munster); Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues)
Blindside flank: Colby Fainga'a (Connacht), Braam Steyn (Benetton); Hamish Watson (Edinburgh)
No 8: Marcel Coetzee (Ulster), Bill Mata (Edinburgh), CJ Stander (Munster)
Scrumhalf: Caolin Blade (Connacht); John Cooney (Ulster); Dewaldt Duvenage (Benetton)
Flyhalf: Jack Carty (Connacht); Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors); Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh)
Left wing: Darcy Graham (Edinburgh); James Lowe (Leinster); Rabz Maxwane (Cheetahs)
Inside centre: Bundee Aki (Connacht); Willis Halaholo (Cardiff Blues); Stuart McCloskey (Ulster)
Outside centre: Tom Farrell (Connacht); Rey Lee-Lo (Cardiff Blues); Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors)
Right wing: Monty Ioane (Benetton Rugby); Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets); Ratuva Tavuyara (Benetton Rugby)
Fullback: Dan Evans (Ospreys); Mike Haley (Munster); Matthew Morgan (Cardiff Blues)
I am rather surprised that DH van der Merwe is not on the list of players, I have highlighted the SA borne players and there are three categories of players on that list, namely -
* those who already played test rugby for other countries - Stander, Nel and Steyn
* those who have not played any test rugby thus far - Schoeman, Duvenhage, Van der Walt and Maxwane; and
* the brilliant Coetzee who did play 28 test matches for SA,
I believe that Erasmus should look at Schoeman, Van der Walt and Coetzee as potential selections for the WC - as well as Van der Merwe.
