Familiar look for BlitzBoks in LA

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The South African Sevens squad to contest the Los Angeles leg of the World Series next weekend have a familiar look to it.

The team will be minus some regulars, who were integral to their victory at the Commonwealth Games last month.

BlitzBok coach Neil Powell named his squad for the season-ending World Series event - with Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown, Christie Grobbelaar and Mfundo Ndhlovu all sidelined.

The quartet picked up injuries in Birmingham that have ruled them out of the trip to the United States, but as has become habit with the BlitzBoks, their replacements were involved during the World Series.

They are replaced by Branco du Preez, Darren Adonis, Ryan Oosthuizen and Shilton van Wyk, all of whom have tasted tournament success with the BlitzBoks before.

With a lot of permutations at play in California – the BlitzBoks lead Australia by two points and Argentina by six points at the top of the World Series standings – for the team to secure back-to-back World Series titles, but Powell said they are not taking any calculators with them to Los Angeles.

"We are not going to try and work out permutations, we would rather seal the deal by coming out on top in Los Angeles," said Powell.

"The confidence and mood in the camp is good after the good results in Birmingham, but that is something in the past. We have a very tough pool and as usual, we will be looking to set a strong standard in our first game and work from there."

The BlitzBoks are in Pool B with New Zealand, United States and Canada, and will open the tournament with a match against the hosts. They depart for the United States on Saturday.

South African squad: Sako Makata, Ryan Oosthuizen, James Murphy, Zain Davids, Angelo Davids, JC Pretorius, Branco du Preez, Darren Adonis, Shaun Williams, Dewald Human, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Muller du Plessis, Shilton van Wyk.