Five capped players are amongst a group of 13 to leave for Mauritius on Thursday to participate in the Rugby Africa Sevens Series.
David Brits, James Murphy, Jaiden Barron, Mfundo Ndhlovu and Sebastiaan Jobb will be important contributors in the SA side’s participation, with their HSBC SVNS experience coming in handy in a squad that offers tournament experience to half a dozen Blitzboks academy players.
Sandile Ngcobo will coach the side and SA Rugby’s High-Performance Manager, Marius Schoeman, will assist as well as acting as team manager.
Schoeman explained their participation in the tournament, which will have South Africa A face Zambia, Zimbabwe and Algeria in the first round.
“We were asked to step in after one of the original participants withdrew, so had to get ready on short notice. That said, the players have been working with coach Sandile over the last couple of weeks and although they did not prepare for this tournament as such, it will be nice opportunity to be tested by other international sides,” Schoeman said.
Some of the new faces excelled during the Varsity Cup and those performances got them onto our radar, while someone like Joubert Schoeman recently played for the SA Students Sevens at the Students Sevens World Cup.
“This can almost be seen as a restart of our academy that worked so well in the past and that was instrumental in us being successful on the world stage. These players will be tested and moulded and come back better,” Schoeman said.
The first leg of the tournament will be played this weekend and a second tournament will take place next weekend.
Pools:
A: Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Mauritius
B: Uganda, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire
C: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Algeria
The squad for Mauritius:
1. Jayden Nell
2. David Brits
3. James Murphy
4. Joubert Schoeman
5. Jeffwin Wesso
6. Jaiden Baron
7. Kyle Cyster
8. Rowan Malgas
9. Mpho Kubheka
10. Mfundo Ndhlovu
11. Sebastiaan Jobb
12. Siyabonga Ndlozi
13. Ntokozo Makhaza
Photo by SA Rugby website
Issued by SA Rugby Communications
