The Springbok Sevens have returned to South Africa following their participation in the latest rounds of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Hong Kong and Tokyo.
The squad underwent their usual medical assessment at their training camp on Wednesday, and apart from Philip Snyman and Stephan Dippenaar who both returned home with injuries last week from the Far East, no further injuries were reported.
Snyman sustained a knee ligament injury on the 2nd day in Hong Kong and he was replaced by Carel du Preez, who made his Springbok Sevens debut in Tokyo. The estimated recovery period for Snyman is 4 to 6 weeks.
His team-mate Stephan Dippenaar, meanwhile, picked up a mild hamstring injury on the last day of the Hong Kong event and was replaced by Ruhan Nel. He is expected to be back in action in 2 to 4 weeks.
The full training squad will assemble again at their Stellenbosch base on 20 April to begin their preparations for the last 2 Rounds of the World Series in the United Kingdom. Round 8 takes place on 9 and 10 May in Glasgow and the Series concludes a week later with the London Sevens on 16 and 17 May.
Meanwhile, Tokyo runners-up South Africa were handed a tough draw for Glasgow. The South Africans are the top seeds in Pool B which includes rivals New Zealand, Samoa and Kenya.
After 7 thrilling Rounds of World Series action, South Africa currently lead the overall title race by just 4 points over Fiji. The Springbok Sevens have 129 points and they are closely followed by Fiji (125), New Zealand (120) and England (100).