De Villiers calls up dropped duo

Shot at the big time: Schalk Brits gets closer to making his Bok debut

World Cup-winning winger JP Pietersen and uncapped hooker Schalk Brits have been called up to the Springbok squad for the second Test against Wales in Pretoria on Saturday.

Pietersen and Brits have been invited to join the squad for training, despite not being included in coach Peter de Villiers' initial 30-man squad named for the June Tests against Wales and Italy.

In fact, Pietersen missed out on De Villiers' first training squad that was made up of 42 players announced in May that included Brits, with the Sharks' winger's form in the Super 14 costing him his place.

Pietersen now returns to allow the Boks management team to monitor his fitness and conditioning.

Stormers hooker Brits had a strong Super 14 campaign with his franchise and would have felt aggrieved to have lost out as a replacement to Springbok captain John Smit.

Instead, that role went to Smit's shadow Bismarck du Plessis who made an appearance off the bench in the 43-17 demolition of Wales in the first Test played last weekend.

"JP and Schalk are both in contention for selection," said Springbok communications manager Chris Hewitt.

"We're going to lose John Smit shortly to his French commitments and it makes sense for Brits to get familiar with the line-out calls."

Hooker Smit will miss the Test against Italy in Cape Town on June 21 as he has been released to his French club Clermont to play in the Top 14 semi-finals.

"JP was a vital part of our World Cup win and it would be absurd to just abandon him. He knows he is part of our plans, but by his own acknowledgement he was not in the best conditioning in the pre-season," added Hewitt.

"The decision to keep him with the squad is more to monitor him, to make sure he is keeping to the conditioning programs he has been given and to keep him in the right mindset."