Johannesburg - Cecil Afrika will headline the Springboks Sevens Select team to play in the Roma Sevens tournament in Italy on June 20 and 21.
“It is a great opportunity to get a player like Cecil some game time because he hasn't played in a while,” Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell said on Tuesday.
“This is also an ideal opportunity for the squad to get back into the groove of playing tournament sevens again.”
Afrika had been included in the Springbok Sevens squad which would participate in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month and would use this opportunity to regain match fitness after injuries side-lined him in the latter part of the regular season of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
Ahead of their departure on Tuesday, Powell also named a number of fringe players for the tournament, which South Africa won last year in their build-up to the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow.
Three players, Shaun Adendorff, WJ Strydom and Mark Richards would again make the trip, while Paul Delport was keen to show he had recovered from the injury problems which kept him out this season.
Regular players Steven Hunt and Jamba Ulengo would also travel to Rome, as well as a number of players from the Sevens Elite Player Development Programme.
“With the next HSBC series also on the horizon, it will be a good exercise to see the fringe players perform under pressure away from home,” Powell said.
SA Sevens Select: Nardus van Der Walt, Joshua Moon, Shaun Adendorff, Jamba Ulengo, Vincent Maruping, Paul Delport, Lungelo Gosa, WJ Strydom, Sandile Ngcobo, Cecil Afrika, Mark Richards, Steven Hunt.
Sapa