Jean De Villiers will captain the Springboks at the global rugby showpiece and Victor Matfield is vice-captain, with Schalk Burger providing captaincy back-up.
Springbok coach Meyer said it was very tough to select the final squad from the wider training group that had been together for the last two months.

"Every single player in our wider group worked incredibly hard and to cut the squad to 31 was probably the most difficult selection I've faced in my coaching career," said Meyer.

"I think the squad has a great balance between youth and experience while keeping together the core of the team that did the country proud in the last few years. We also have a number of players who know what it takes to win a World Cup and their knowledge will be very valuable.

"We're going to England with the hopes of a nation on our shoulders and we would really like to make our country proud, but we're under no illusions about how tough it will be."

Meyer said that although a number of players currently recovering from injuries were selected, every player in the squad is expected to be fit for the Springboks' opening match of the Rugby World Cup, on 19 September against Japan.

"The best medical scenarios were taken into consideration with the selection process. Our medical team have worked incredibly hard with these players and we're confident they will be ready to be considered to play Japan," said Meyer.

"Although they have not been able to train fully with the rest of the squad at times, they have really worked hard on their fitness and all of them are incredibly fit, some of them in the best shape of their lives."

Springbok squad for Rugby World Cup 2015

Willem Alberts
Schalk Brits
Schalk Burger
Damian De Allende
Lood de Jager
Jean de Villiers (captain)
Bismarck du Plessis
Jannie du Plessis
Fourie du Preez
Pieter-Steph du Toit
Eben Etzebeth
Bryan Habana
Zane Kirchner
Siya Kolisi
Jesse Kriel
Patrick Lambie
Willie le Roux
Francois Louw
Frans Malherbe
Victor Matfield (vice-capt)
Tendai Mtawarira
Lwazi Mvovo
Trevor Nyakane
Coenie Oosthuizen
Rudy Paige
Ruan Pienaar
JP Pietersen
Handré Pollard
Morné Steyn
Adriaan Strauss
Duane Vermeulen

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