The Blitzboks will face Germany or Chile in their opening game of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 which kicks off in Cape Town on Friday.
Minnows Germany and Chile square off in an early game at 11.29am for the right to face home favourites SA in Friday’s late clash at 7.03pm. The winner of this game will advance to the championship and the loser will compete in the Bowl tournament.
The Springbok Sevens have three bronze medallist survivors from 2018 in Siviwe Soyizwapi, who will lead the team, Selvyn Davids and Ryan Oosthuizen. Coach Neil Powell named an initial 14 players and will confirm the final 12 players on Wednesday, before the 48-hour deadline to the tournament.
The Blitzboks have a familiar look with 10 players who were in action at the recent Commonwealth Games in England, where they won the gold medal, with only Dewald Human and Zain Davids absent due to injury.
The duo, who also played in the 2018 tournament, sustained injuries at the HSBC LA Sevens, the last tournament of the 2022 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, with the Blitzboks finishing second on the overall log standings.
Afrika, who is the all-time leading Blitzboks scorer in the World Series with 1,462 points, was recalled due to Human’s injury. The experienced flyhalf last featured for SA in the World Series in 2020, but has been playing for Monaco in the professional Extenso Super Sevens league in France in recent months.
Powell was happy to welcome back Afrika, who missed out in 2018 due to injury after making his RWC 7s debut in Moscow in 2013 and said: “We had been in regular contact since Cecil left Springbok Sevens to first play professional rugby in the US and now France, so I am up to date with his fitness and form.
“The injuries to Justin Geduld earlier this year and now Dewald Human left us short of options at flyhalf, and Cecil not only provides massive experience but big-match temperament as well. He will also take some of the workload away from Selvyn Davids, who is coming back from injury.”
Davids, Ronald Brown, Christie Grobbelaar and Mfundo Ndhlovu all make a timely return to the squad, having missed the tournament in Los Angeles due to injuries sustained at the Commonwealth Games in July.
Initial SA squad: Cecil Afrika, Ronald Brown, Angelo Davids, Selvyn Davids, Muller du Plessis, Christie Grobbelaar, Sako Makata, James Murphy, Mfundo Ndhlovu, Ryan Oosthuizen, JC Pretorius, Siviwe Soyizwapi (capt), Impi Visser, Shaun Williams.
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