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In what is likely to be George’s final swansong for the SA Sevens, Outeniqua Park is bracing itself for tomorrow’s second leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
 

Sixteen teams will again battle for World Series points a week after England’s victory at the season opener in Dubai.

The opening day’s pool play will include a repeat of the two Cup semi finals from the Dubai desert.
In Pool C England will once again look for success against New Zealand with Kenya and Russia completing a strong looking line-up.

"You’ve got to celebrate your successes, and we did well in Dubai, but we’ve got to build on that now," said England coach Ben Ryan.

"England have never won back-to-back tournaments in 11 years, so we’ve got the opportunity to make a bit of history.

"I reckon we were probably at 70 per cent of our potential last week. We’ve got the chance now to improve in certain areas and we can all see what we need to improve and build on,” he added.

Another Dubai rematch will pit the two Pacific Islands of Fiji and Samoa again together in Pool B with USA and Namibia. Dubai runners-up Samoa will look to repeat their dominance over the Fijians but will miss injured key men Lolo Lui and Reupena Levasa who are replaced by Alatasi Tupou and Sani Niue respectively. Livewire PJ Komongnan makes a comeback for the USA squad in place of Jason Pye.

Hosts South Africa will give new caps to Jacques Engelbrecht, who replaces Lubabalo Mtembu. Experienced half back Paul Delport also comes into the side as a replacement for Renfred Dazel, who is still recovering from a blow to the head, and Steven Hunt takes the place of MJ Mentz. The Boks must tackle African neighbours Zimbabwe, Los Pumas of Argentina and Portugal – who upset England at last week’s group stages.

The opening fixture of the day in Pool A pits Australia against Wales with the exciting clash of Dubai leading try-scorer John Grant against in-form Wales man Ifan Evans. France and Scotland will complete Pool A, with the French flying in Zambelli Thibaut as a replacement for Steve Barry.

George Sevens Pools:

Pool A: Australia, Scotland, Wales, France
Pool B: Samoa, Fiji, United States, Namibia
Pool C: New Zealand, England, Kenya, Russia
Pool D: South Africa, Argentina, Portugal, Zimbabwe