South Africa sevens squad for the upcoming HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series includes three promising uncapped players – Donovan Don, Ethan James, and Sebastiaan Jobb.
Shaun Williams and Tiaan Pretorius, who were sidelined due to injuries, have also made a return to the squad, while Travis Ismaiel has recovered from an injury he sustained during his debut in Los Angeles.
The team is still missing key playmakers Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown, Dewald Human, Justin Geduld, and Jaiden Baron.
The team will be departing for the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens next weekend, followed by the HSBC Singapore Sevens a week later.
Springbok Sevens coach Sandile Ngcobo said: “I believe we have selected the strongest possible squad for this very important trip to Hong Kong and Singapore, and I’m very excited to see what the three new players can do in a tournament situation.”
“We took some valuable lessons on board after returning from North America, but we’ve now put Los Angeles and Vancouver behind us, and we’re excited about travelling to the Far East.
“Our main goal for the season is still to finish in the top four and while it presents us with an exciting challenge, we believe in our players and know they will display some proper fighting spirit next weekend.
“As a squad, we know what we need to do to achieve what we set out to at the start of the season last October, and we now have an opportunity to do just that.”
Springbok Sevens squad (with World Series stats):
Ryan Oosthuizen – 39 tournaments, 188 matches (185 points, 37 tries)
Impi Visser – 28 tournaments, 146 matches (135 points, 27 tries)
Zain Davids – 39 tournaments, 198 matches (180 points, 36 tries)
Siviwe Soyizwapi (captain) – 47 tournaments, 244 matches (735 points, 147 tries)
Mfundo Ndhlovu – 13 tournaments, 60 matches (65 points, 13 tries)
Christie Grobbelaar – 14 tournaments, 71 matches (110 points, 22 tries)
Shaun Williams – 9 tournaments, 46 matches (113 points, 17 tries, 14 conversions)
Travis Ismaiel – 1 tournament, 5 matches (5 points, 1 try)
Ricardo Duarttee – 6 tournaments, 34 matches (156 points, 13 tries, 44 conversions, 1 penalty goal)
Tiaan Pretorius – 3 tournaments, 10 matches (5 points, 1 try)
Ethan James – uncapped
Sebastiaan Jobb – uncapped
Donovan Don – uncapped
