Springbok Sevens’ coach Paul Treu has made four changes to his squad for the Sevens World Series tournaments in Wellington and Las Vegas, the SA Rugby Union said on Monday.
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Former SA Schools star Paul Jordaan had been selected in place of Mark Richard, and Renfred Dazel would replace the injured Cecil Afrika, Saru said in a statement.
Chris Dry and Lubabalo Mtembu would come into the squad in place of Jacques Engelbrecht and Sibusiso Sithole.
Saru said Jordaan was one of five promising schoolboy players Treu signed last year to try and inject new blood into the national squad.
Afrika’s jaw was broken in the Plate semi-final clash against Wales at Outeniqua Park.
He and Sithole, who has a knee injury, should return to full fitness in time for the Hong Kong Sevens in March, Saru said.
Despite Afrika’s injury, he was the leading World Series point scorer with 127 points to date, and was also the leading try scorer with 17, it said.
After the first two events, England lead the HSBC Sevens World Series with 44 points, followed by New Zealand (40), Samoa (36), Fiji (32) and South Africa (24).
The third leg of the World Series will be played in Wellington, New Zealand on 4 and 5 February, with the Las Vegas event a week later.
Treu will put his team though their paces at the Athlone Stadium on Tuesday. They leave for Wellington on Friday.
Squad: Boom Prinsloo, Kyle Brown (capt), Frankie Horne, Chris Dry, Lubabalo Mtembu, Paul Delport, Branco du Preez, Renfred Dazel, Pieter Engelbrecht, Bernado Botha, Steven Hunt and Paul Jordaan.