Edgar Marutlulle has been rewarded for his consistent performance in a struggling Southern Kings team by being named in the SA A team to take on the England Saxons next month.
Marutlulle is one of the three Eastern Cape-based players to be named in the 23 member squad.
The other two are Ntando Kebe and Lukhanyo Am.
On Saturday, high-flying Lions coach, Johann Ackerman, was named as the coach of the SA A team. He will be supported by Border Bulldogs assistanc coach, Chumani Booi and Abe Davids, who is the head coach of the SWD Eagles.
Five of the six players with Test experience are in the pack. They are Oupa Mohoje, Nizaam Carr, Coenie Oosthuizen, Vincent Koch and Marcel van der Merwe. At the back, Piet van Zyl will provide knowledge of international rugby.
The national selectors also picked seven players who had their first taste of Vodacom Super Rugby this year. They are Lukhanyo Am, Jean-Luc du Preez, Lizo Gqoboka, Ntando Kebe, JD Schickerling, RG Snyman and Leolin Zas.
"Many of the players in the SA 'A' squad were considered for the Springboks and will obviously come into consideration in the event of injuries, but we could only select a certain number of players and it will be good to see them get international exposure against a strong England Saxons team," said Springbok coach Allister Coetzee.
"For the first two weeks of our series against Ireland, we will release four players not included in the Springboks' match-23 to the SA 'A' squad and we will work closely with Johan and his coaching team to get the best out of our players.
"Only players based in South Africa were considered for the SA 'A' squad and it was good to balance the squad with some experienced Test players. However, we've also seen an exciting generation of new players emerge in Vodacom Super Rugby this year - some of them coming through after injuries to other players - and I'd like to see them grab their opportunities against the Saxons."
