Player of the Year Cecil Afrika has been included in the final squad of 12 Blitzbok players for round one of the HSBC Sevens World Series to be held on Friday and Saturday at the Gold Coast in Australia.
Afrika has recovered fully from a broken jaw he suffered during the pre-season and will be in action at Skilled Park, the new home of Australian Sevens.
Branco du Preez and William Small-Smith are the two players who miss out.
“The new seeding and points format will bring a new dimension to how you approach each tournament and teams will simply have to be at their best if they want to stay in the hunt,” said coach Paul Treu.
The winners and runners up from each event will automatically be placed in Pool A and B respectively for the following tournament, before the draw for each pool is made.
Last season South Africa ended the Series as the in-form team when they claimed back-to-back Cups in Scotland and England, which enabled the team to secure second spot on the Series standings behind New Zealand.
Robert Ebersohn is back after a two-year absence while Chase Minnaar and Renfred Dazel have shrugged off their injuries which kept them on the sidelines for most of last season.
Kyle Brown and Frankie Horne form the core of an experienced forward division while Boom Prinsloo will be keen to add to his impressive performances of last year.
The last time Treu’s side faced Australia was in the Cup final in Edinburgh, one of the most pulsating matches of the 2010/11 Series. South Africa came from 28-7 and 35-19 behind to snatch a dramatic 36-35 victory.
The Blitzbokke for round 1 of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Australia:
1. Chris Dry
2. Kyle Brown (captain)
3. Frankie Horne
4. Boom Prinsloo
5. Chase Minnaar
6. Paul Delport
7. Renfred Dazel
8. Mark Richards
9. Steven Hunt
10. Bernado Botha
11. Robert Ebersohn
12. Cecil Afrika
The fixtures on day one (to be televised live on SuperSport, with SA times):
06h47: SA vs. USA
09h53: SA vs. Japan
13h36: SA vs. Australia
