Blitzbokke opt for experience
New Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell has named an experienced squad to play in the Gold Coast Sevens tournament on 12 – 13 October in Australia.
Livewire scrumhalf Branco du Preez and wing Seabelo Senatla were not considered due to injury. Du Preez is recovering from hip surgery and should make his return to action early in December. Junior Springbok Senatla is out with a lower back injury.
Their replacements are Sampie Mastriet, a regular on the wing for the Blue Bulls, and Mark Richards, who himself has now recovered fully from the Achilles heel injury which has kept him on the sideline for most of the previous season.
Otherwise, the squad have a familiar and settled look, with veteran Frankie Horne set to play in his 51st World Series event and captain Kyle Brown in his 34th tournament.
Prolific try scorer Cornal Hendricks will especially be looking forward to continuing with his try-scoring exploits after scoring the second most tries in the World Series, which consists of nine tournaments worldwide.
The South African squad will complete their training camp at their base in Stellenbosch on Sunday and travel to Australia on Monday afternoon via Johannesburg.
Springbok Sevens squad: Chris Dry, Philip Snyman, Frankie Horne, Jamba Ulengo, Cornal Hendricks, Kyle Brown (captain), Sampie Mastriet, Stephan Dippenaar, Justin Geduld, Cecil Afrika, Mark Richards, Steven Hunt.
