Kok Olympic bid a ‘whole new start’

File picture: Imagine being the best sevens rugby player in the world the one season, but you are in danger of missing the Rio Olympics the next? That is the scenario facing Blitzbok star Werner Kok.

File picture: Imagine being the best sevens rugby player in the world the one season, but you are in danger of missing the Rio Olympics the next? That is the scenario facing Blitzbok star Werner Kok.

Published Jun 9, 2016

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Imagine being the best sevens rugby player in the world the one season, but you are in danger of missing the Rio Olympics the next? That is the scenario facing Blitzbok star Werner Kok.

Kok has just one chance to prove to Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell that he is 100 percent fit and in good enough form to force his way into the final Olympic squad.

The 23-year-old from Nelspruit picked up a knee ligament injury in the Dubai tournament last December that kept him on the sidelines for the rest of the World Series season, and will make a late bid for inclusion when he turns out for the SA Sevens Academy side at the Rome Sevens this weekend.

Powell faces a mammoth task in coming up with the 12-man Rio group, with the injection of a couple of top-class talent from the 15-man code. And you would think that there are a few certainties for Brazil – Kyle Brown, Seabelo Senatla, Kwagga Smith, Cheslin Kolbe, Cecil Afrika, Juan de Jongh, Justin Geduld and Francois Hougaard.

The main talking points will be among the forwards, with Tim Agaba having made a strong bid for inclusion in the latter half of the World Series with a number of powerful performances.

Kok, though, plays in the backline, where additional spots are tightly contested. But it is a fight that he is well prepared for. “This is something that I’ve been waiting for for the last six months. I actually wrote off the season and it was tough for me when the guys went on tour for the first time,” Kok said from Italy on Thursday.

“But I got stuck in, put my head down and worked towards (coming back). Rome is the place where I have to showcase myself and hopefully I can put up my hand to be selected for the squad.

“Being the player of the year was an awesome thing, but I wrote that off as it was last year’s thing. It’s a whole new start for me to get on the pitch and play again. Hopefully I can do the basics right again, and just go out and enjoy it.”

Veteran Frankie Horne is in a similar boat, having sat out most of the season with an ankle injury. With Brown and Smith the only real certainties among the forwards for Rio, Horne stands an even better chance than Kok to come in to the Olympic squad through the back door.

“I was meant to play in London and Paris (the last two legs of the World Series in May), but I still had a few niggles with the ankle and it was a very tight time-frame with the recovery,” he said.

“I hope to stamp my authority and put my hand up to show that I am still here and want to be part of the squad. That fire still burns brightly. Having come through four months of rehabilitation, I have got the chance to play again and hopefully I can put my name in the hat for Rio.”

Other serious contenders for the Blitzboks Olympic squad in the SA Academy side include Branco du Preez, Stephan Dippenaar and Siviwe Soyizwapi. The tournament will be played on Friday and Saturday at the Acqua Acetosa Stadium in Rome, with the SA side having won the title for the last three years.

SA Sevens Academy Squad

Frankie Horne, Sandile Ngcobo (captain), Luke van der Smit, Ryan Oosthuizen, Stephan Dippenaar, Branco du Preez, Donovan du Randt, Lungelo Gosa, Spamandla Ngcobo, Dewald Human, Werner Kok, Siviwe Soyizwapi.

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