Branco du Preez is among five players who missed out on the Sevens World Cup to be included in the Blitzboks’ squad for this weekend’s Hong Kong Sevens.
The others are Ryan Oosthuizen, Dewald Human, Darren Adonis and Shilton van Wyk, while Cecil Afrika, Angelo Davids, Muller du Plessis and Shaun Williams miss out for various reasons after playing at the global showpiece in Cape Town last month.
After not featuring since 2020, the Hong Kong Sevens is back on the World Rugby Sevens Series calendar in the unusual position as season opener.
New Blitzboks head coach Sandile Ngcobo and his assistant Philip Snyman will be making their coaching debuts.
Du Preez, the most capped and second-most prolific point-scorer in Blitzbok history, is back in the squad after last appearing in Los Angeles in August, while Human returns after recovering from an injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.
Oosthuizen was named in the wider World Cup group but missed out on the final 12-man squad, while Adonis and Van Wyk are also back in the mix after also last playing in LA.
Ngcobo had an opportunity to work with Du Preez, Human, Oosthuizen, Adonis and Van Wyk after all five of them were recently in action when Ngcobo took his wider squad to the Kanonkop Sevens in Middelburg, Mpumalanga last month.
Afrika has gone back into retirement after being recalled for World Cup duty due to a lack of options at flyhalf, Angelo Davids is with the DHL Stormers, while Du Plessis and Williams are both unavailable due to injury, joining Zain Davids, Justin Geduld, Lubabalo Dobela and Tiaan Pretorius on the sidelines.
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“It’s good to be able to travel to Hong Kong with a settled squad and to have some players back who missed out in Cape Town, but what we are looking forward to the most, is playing again at the highest level, and to go out and compete to our full potential,” said Ngcobo.
“It doesn’t matter where we go, we just want to go out and play to the best of our ability, especially as the last few years have been difficult with all the interruptions.
“However, once we returned to some form of normality earlier this year, it was great to see the spirit of sevens rugby rise again, and as a group we can’t wait to get the ball rolling for the new season.
“A new season brings with it new possibilities and new challenges, and the players in our training squad are raring to go.”
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South Africa, France, and a combined Great Britain squad are joined by series debutants Uruguay in Pool B.
“The French can beat anyone on any day, and the Great Britain team will be a bit of an unknown factor, while we know that the South American sides are never easy to play against,” said Ngcobo.
Du Preez will play his 10th Hong Kong tournament, the most for any South African player. He will also extend his Blitzbok career tournament record to 83 on the World Rugby Sevens Series.
Oosthuizen (2016), Selvyn Davids (2018) and Mfundo Ndlovu (2018) made their Blitzbok debuts on the Sevens Series in Hong Kong.
Blitzbok squad for the Hong Kong Sevens (with Sevens Series stats):
Sako Makata – 16 tournaments, 60 points (12 tries)
Ryan Oosthuizen – 32 tournaments, 160 points (32 tries)
Impi Visser – 21 tournaments, 115 points (23 tries)
JC Pretorius – 20 tournaments, 225 points (45 tries)
Branco du Preez – 82 tournaments, 1,434 points (100 tries, 464 conversions, 1 penalty goal, 1 drop goal)
Selvyn Davids – 27 tournaments, 564 points (69 tries, 108 conversions, one penalty goal)
Ronald Brown – 8 tournaments, 285 points (27 tries, 75 conversions)
Dewald Human – 10 tournaments, 211 points (17 tries, 63 conversions)
Siviwe Soyizwapi (c) – 40 tournaments, 670 points (134 tries)
Mfundo Ndhlovu – 10 tournaments, 60 points (12 tries).
Christie Grobbelaar – 8 tournaments, 70 points (14 tries)
Shilton van Wyk – 4 tournaments, 30 points (6 tries)
Darren Adonis – 7 tournaments, 54 points (10 tries, 2 conversions)
