The HSBC Cape Town Rugby 7s kicks off today (Saturday 12 December), with hosts, South Africa in a pool with fellow African teams, Kenya and Zimbabwe, with longstanding European rivals, England filling up the final spot.
The HSBC Cape Town Rugby 7s kicks off today (Saturday 12 December), with hosts, South Africa in a pool with fellow African teams, Kenya and Zimbabwe, with longstanding European rivals, England filling up the final spot.
The hosts, who won the series last year, will be hoping that their new home at Green Point Stadium will bring them just as much luck Port Elizabeth did.
The Blitzbokke are coming off a disappointing weekend in Dubai as they dominated in the pool stages but failed to deliver in the cup quarter finals after losing to the United States of America 21-19. South Africa eventually won the plate final by defeating Australia 19-14 but that will not be regarded as good enough by Neil Powell and his charges.
Neil Powell will be missing some stalwarts as Blitzbok legend, Cecil Afrika and World Rugby sevens player of the year for 2015, Werner Kok suffered injuries. In light of the losses Powell has called up Grahamstown’s own Rosco Speckman and Blitzbokke debutant, Dylan Sage.
The first game will kick off at 10:15am, as the United States take on Wales. South Africa’s first game is at 12:49pm against Zimbabwe, their second game is at 4.10pm against Kenya and their last game is at 7:56pm against England.
* Grocott’s Sports Beat journalists, Leonard Solms and Nicholas McGregor will cover the Sevens tournament for Grocott’s Mail. Follow them on Twitter at @Grocotts and the Grocotts Mail Sport Facebook page.
