Blitzboks coach Neil Powell has named an unchanged squad for this weekend’s Cape Town Sevens at Cape Town Stadium.
Powell’s men won the first tournament of the new Sevens Series in Dubai last weekend and while the coach did bring in a fresh face in Hacjivah Dayimani earlier in the week, he settled on the same 12 that did duty in the first tournament.
Dayimani suffered an ankle injury in training and his place as 13th man will be taken by Impi Visser.
Powell says of his squad selection: “We did bring in Hacjivah Dayimani as 13th player as we wanted to give him a feel for the World Series, but his ankle injury put paid to that idea.
“Impi Visser will be our official reserve this time around and I am quite comfortable having him around.
“He played very well for us last season and will be ready to slot in if needed.”
KEEPING THE FAITH: Blitzbokke coach Neil Powell. Picture: Phando Jikelo/ANA.
Powell adds of his team’s performance in Dubai: “We certainly played better as the tournament progressed, but this weekend we start at zero again.
“The players realise that last week’s performance will not mean anything this week.
“We are playing three very capable opponents and will have to be at our very best just to get out of our pool.
“Japan is a difficult opponent to start against and Fiji and USA were the top two teams in last year’s series.”
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/Neil5Powell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Neil5Powelland #Blitzboks can’t wait for @CapeTown7s to kick off. They start their campaign at 20:03 Friday evening against @JRFURugby. @CastleFreeSA @FNBSA @ASICS_ZA pic.twitter.com/bcAfVIKLSv
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks)
The Springbok Sevens kick off the campaign on their home turf at 8.03pm against Japan Friday evening, while Fiji (1.51pm) and USA (8.03pm) await on Saturday.