South Africa U20 star Zain Davids is set to make his Blitzboks Springbok Sevens debut at next weekend’s Wellington Sevens.

Davids has been included in the Blitzboks squad for the next two legs of the World Rugby Sevens Series, which will take place in Wellington and Sydney over the next fortnight.

The inclusion of Davids is one of two changes to the side that contested the Cup final at the Cape Town Sevens in December last year, with speedster Siviwe Soyizwapi the other addition.

Their inclusion in the squad was necessitated by knee injuries to Kyle Brown and Cecil Afrika. Brown injured his knee at the sold-out Cape Town event and will be out of action for at least six months after undergoing successful surgery, while Afrika injured his knee in training earlier this week, resulting in him missing the trip to Australasia.

‘We have lost over 100 tournaments worth of experience with Kyle and Cecil out of action,’ said coach Neil Powell.

‘That said, we always knew that we needed to bring new players into the system and Zain was earmarked as one of them. He has shown a good appetite for sevens and will now be tested at the highest level,’ Powell added.

‘Shakes (Soyizwapi) played for us last year and will be keen to establish himself in the side, especially as Seabelo Senatla will be moving to fifteens. He did very well in the warm-up tournament in Namibia late last year and I am pleased to have him in the playing squad.’

Blitzboks squad – Chris Dry, Philip Snyman, Dylan Sage, Kwagga Smith, Werner Kok, Zain Davids, Branco du Preez, Rosco Speckman, Justin Geduld, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Ruhan Nel, Seabelo Senatla, Sandile Ngcobo (reserve player).