Springbok Sevens coach Sandile Ngcobo included three uncapped players in the Blitzbok squad for the subsequent two tournaments on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, with Donovan Don, Ethan James and Sebastiaan Jobb in line for their first style of worldwide sevens rugby in the subsequent fortnight.
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The Blitzboks will depart for subsequent weekend’s Hong Kong Sevens on Sunday, and per week later they are going to be in motion in the Singapore Sevens.
Don and James – who joined the sevens programme at the begin of the 12 months however had been scuffling with accidents – each performed for the Junior Springboks final 12 months, whereas Jobb is again in the nationwide sevens set-up after taking part in for the South Africa ‘A’ Sevens team just a few seasons in the past.
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Furthermore, two gamers who missed the current journey to North America, Shaun Williams and Tiaan Pretorius, are again in the squad after recovering from accidents which have stored them on the sidelines.
Williams was injured earlier than the Blitzboks departed for the USA, whereas Pretorius has not featured in any respect thus far in the 2022/23 World Series.
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Travis Ismaiel, who was injured on debut in Los Angeles and missed the Vancouver leg of the World Series, can also be again in the squad, however Ngcobo continues to be with out the companies of key playmakers in Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown, Dewald Human, Justin Geduld and Jaiden Baron.
“I believe we have selected the strongest possible squad for this very important trip to Hong Kong and Singapore, and I’m very excited to see what the three new players can do in a tournament situation,” stated Ngcobo.
“We took some helpful classes on board after getting back from North America, however we’ve now put Los Angeles and Vancouver behind us, and we’re enthusiastic about travelling to the Far East.
“Our predominant objective for the season continues to be to complete in the high 4 and whereas it presents us with an thrilling problem, we consider in our gamers and know they may show some correct preventing spirit subsequent weekend.
“As a squad, we know what we need to do to achieve what we set out to at the start of the season last October, and we now have an opportunity to do just that.”
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The Hong Kong Sevens kicks off on Friday, 31 March, when the Blitzboks will play their first pool match, in opposition to Ireland at 09:04 (SA time).
The different two pool video games are on Saturday, 1 April, in opposition to New Zealand (05:04 SA time) and Kenya (09:25 SA time), adopted by the playoffs (hopefully) on Sunday, 2 April.
The Singapore Sevens might be performed the following weekend, on 8 and 9 April.
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Springbok Sevens squad (with World Series stats):
Ryan Oosthuizen – 39 tournaments, 188 matches (185 factors, 37 tries)
Impi Visser – 28 tournaments, 146 matches (135 factors, 27 tries)
Zain Davids – 39 tournaments, 198 matches (180 factors, 36 tries)
Siviwe Soyizwapi (captain) – 47 tournaments, 244 matches (735 factors, 147 tries)
Mfundo Ndhlovu – 13 tournaments, 60 matches (65 factors, 13 tries)
Christie Grobbelaar – 14 tournaments, 71 matches (110 factors, 22 tries)
Shaun Williams – 9 tournaments, 46 matches (113 factors, 17 tries, 14 conversions)
Travis Ismaiel – 1 match, 5 matches (5 factors, 1 attempt)
Ricardo Duarttee – 6 tournaments, 34 matches (156 factors, 13 tries, 44 conversions, 1 penalty objective)
Tiaan Pretorius – 3 tournaments, 10 matches (5 factors, 1 attempt)
Ethan James – uncapped
Sebastiaan Jobb – uncapped
Donovan Don – uncapped
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