South African Sevens coach Paul Treu on Wednesday named a squad of 26 players for the Springbok Sevens' final pre-season training camp in Stellenbosch.
The squad will assemble on Thurday at the Sports Science Institute in Newlands where the players will undergo a series of medical, fitness and conditioning tests before heading off to the training fields in Stellenbosch.
Treu explained the reasoning behind the selection of the enlarged squad: "We obviously want to fine-tune our preparations for Dubai and George, but we must also select a twelve man squad for the tournament in Sri Lanka."
The Springbok Sevens coach and the national Sevens selectors have cast their net wide in their search for new talent and the squad is a mixture of contracted players, promising Under-21's and a SA Student representative.
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Two players, Marlin Ruiters and Hoffman Maritz (both Free State Cheetahs U21) were added to the list after impressive performances at the National Inter-Provincials held over the weekend in Port Elizabeth.
"We have lost a number of regulars from our successful team of last season like Lionel Mapoe, Robert Ebersohn and Philip Snyman and we, therefore, need to find replacements before the start of the IRB Sevens World Series next month.
"I am confident we will find suitable replacements, but we must take into account that the newcomers must be given time to understand our systems and they need to adjust very quickly to the pace and intensity of the game at international level," added Treu.
The South African Sevens training squad is:
Kyle Brown, Frankie Horne, Paul Delport, Ryno Benjamin, Marius Schoeman, Mpho Mbiyozo, Cecil Afrika, MJ Mentz, Chase Minnaar, Neil Powell, Renfred Dazel, Mzwandile Stick (all SA Rugby contracted players); Jonathan Adendorf (Maties), Shaun Venter (Pumas), Bernado Botha (Lions U21), Chris Dry, Hoffman Maritz, Kholo Ramashala, Marlin Ruiters (Free State Cheetahs U21), JW Jonker (Free State Cheetahs), Steven Hunt (Western Province U21), Rosco Specman (Sharks U21), Divan Ferguson (Lions U19), Deon Helberg (SA Students) Shannon Rick, Brian Shabangu (Sharks). - Sapa
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