Kyle Brown and Cheslin Kolbe have been included in the Blitzboks squad for the World Rugby Sevens tournament in Dubai.

Brown has been out of action since injuring his shoulder in the Commonwealth Games final, while Kolbe will make his return having last featured for the Blitzboks at last year's PE Sevens. He will be joined by Western Province teammate Seabelo Senatla, as well as Cheetahs utility back Rayno Benjamin in a strong 12-man squad.

Neil Powell, who coached the Springbok Sevens to second place in the Series last season and to a Commonwealth gold medal in June, said it was a tough job to select only 12 players for Dubai and Port Elizabeth.

'We had 24 players in our training group and all of them could have been selected for the final squad,' said Powell. 'This was most probably the toughest selection to date for me because the players really played their part during training.'

'They [Kolbe and Senatla] are both very exciting players with great game-breaking abilities. Our squad has worked extremely hard the past few weeks and we all realise we have to improve a lot on our performance at the Gold Coast.'

The players who participated in the Gold Coast but missed out on selection for Dubai and PE are: Chris Dry, Steven Hunt, Stephan Dippenaar and Justin Geduld. Dippenaar and Geduld were not considered due to injuries.

Blitzboks squad – Ruhan Nel, Philip Snyman, Frankie Horne, Kwagga Smith, Werner Kok, Kyle Brown, Branco du Preez, Rayno Benjamin, Warrick Gelant, Cecil Afrika, Seabelo Senatla, Cheslin Kolbe.

Photo: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images