South Africa Sevens coach Paul Treu has made two changes to his squad for the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens tournament on 2-3 December 2011. Branco du Preez and William Small-Smith replace Cecil Afrika and Steven Hunt for round two of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
Afrika, the IRB and SARU Sevens Player of the Year, was not considered for selection after he sustained a rib injury last week in Australia.
Du Preez is now fully recovered from a niggling ankle injury, which has limited his training time during pre-season preparations. The scrumhalf is a versatile attacking player and is also strong on defence.
Small-Smith is one of five former schoolboy stars who made their international Sevens debut last season for the Blitzbokke and in Dubai he will play only his third Series tournament after his debut in London last season.
South Africa is currently third on the World Series log after winning their third-place playoff match last week at the Gold Coast against hosts Australia.
“Cecil is still suffering from some discomfort after he received a blow to the ribs on day one in Australia, so we will not risk him unnecessarily because the season has only started and we have a long way to go. Branco now has a bit more training time behind him and so he will start in place of Cecil,” said Treu.
“William gets his chance in place of Steven Hunt because we want to arrive in Port Elizabeth next week with the knowledge that we’ve given every squad member a chance to play. Three tournaments in a row poses a tough challenge in terms of managing the players, so we will have to be sensible in our approach.”
In turning his attention to the Group B rivals his Blitzbokke will face in Dubai, Treu reiterated the fact that there will be no easy games.
“Portugal is improving all the time and last season they caused some notable upsets, while the USA made it really difficult for us last week and I have no doubt they will by very motivated when we face each again. New Zealand will be determined to strike back after losing to Fiji in the Gold Coast final,” said Treu.
Fiji is the early pacesetter with 22 points, followed by New Zealand (19 points), South Africa (17), Australia (15) and Wales (13). The HSBC World Series now consists of nine tournaments after Japan was added to the tournament schedule.
The day one fixtures for SA (to be televised live from 07h00 on SuperSport 6 & CSN, SA times) are:
- 09h10: SA vs. Portugal
- 09h53: SA vs. USA
- 13h36: SA vs. New Zealand
The South African squad for round two of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Dubai:
- Chris Dry
- Chase Minnaar
- Frankie Horne
- Boom Prinsloo
- Robert Ebersohn
- Kyle Brown (captain)
- Renfred Dazel
- Bernado Botha
- Paul Delport
- Branco du Preez
- Mark Richards
- William Small-Smith
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