Kyle Brown will captain the Blitzboks at this weekend’s Singapore Sevens in the absence of Philip Snyman, who is being rested.
Brown will play for South Africa in his 65th tournament, just three shy of Frankie Horne’s record of 68, but performance rather than experience will be the key factor for the Blitzboks to maintain their lead in the World Rugby Sevens Series.
Coach Neil Powell included seven youngsters from the team that finished third in Hong Kong in his squad for Singapore – Heino Bezuidenhout, Ryan Oosthuizen, Zain Davids, Selvyn Davids, Stedman Gans, Muller du Plessis and James Murphy, who is the travelling reserve.
‘One of our objectives this season was to expand the depth of our playing squad and because of that I was not forced into any selections due to injuries,’ said Powell. ‘This squad is our best one for this tournament as everyone is really pushing for a starting position.’
Joining them on the flight to Singapore will be Brown and six other Team SA members from the recent Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, where the team finished a disappointing fourth – Dylan Sage, Werner Kok, Rosko Specman, Cecil Afrika, Siviwe Soyizwapi and Zain Davids, the only player who played in both tournaments.
Oosthuizen pulled out of the Gold Coast event due to injury with Selvyn Davids joining Team SA as a reserve, but he did not get any game time.
Specman makes a return to the Sevens Series after he missed the North American leg, while Brown will captain the side for the second time this year, having done so in Hamilton too.
He again takes over from Snyman, who is being rested along with other senior players such as Branco du Preez, Justin Geduld and Ruhan Nel.
The Blitzboks play Samoa, Canada and Argentina in Pool C on Saturday, 28 April.
Springbok Sevens squad – Heino Bezuidenhout, Ryan Oosthuizen, Kyle Brown (c), Zain Davids, Dylan Sage, Rosko Specman, Selvyn Davids, Cecil Afrika, Werner Kok, Stedman Gans, Muller du Plessis, Siviwe Soyizwapi, James Murphy (travelling reserve)
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
