Nienaber coy on Coetzee, Gelant controversial Springbok omissions: 'They must perform'

Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber gave nothing away regarding what in-form Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee and Stormers fullback needed to do to make the grade towards national team selection.

The pair were headline omissions from Springbok alignment camps earlier this year and have not been included in the latest one in Pretoria because of their Bulls and Stormers commitments, respectively.

The Bulls face Leinster in Dublin on Friday night (20:35), while the Stormers host Ulster in Cape Town for the United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-finals, which has bought the Bok selectors time to finalise their squad for the in-bound Wales tour to SA.

However, it remains unclear what Nienaber's plan is with the pair.

"We're not going to speculate on the squad and that's why we haven't announced it," Nienaber said on Wednesday.

"They are currently playing with their franchises and to [avoid] speculating on who's in and who's out, that's the reason we delayed the whole announcement of the squad so that they can focus solely on preparing for Leinster and Ulster.

"They must perform but I'm not going to speculate on players who are not in the squad. If you look at the squad, the moment the Sharks fell out, we pulled their players in.

"Of the guys who joined us, there's a good blend of guys who are experienced, like Siya [Kolisi] and Lukhanyo [Am] but there're also youngsters like Grant [Williams], Ntuthuko [Mchunu] and Aphelele [Fassi].

"There's good experience on one side but also a good number of youth players. I think it will be the same with the other teams when they fall out."

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Coetzee might be stuck behind the lengthy loose-forward