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South Africa and New Zealand hope to get their seasons back on track in Hong Kong after being given timely boosts with the return from injuries of Mzwandile Stick and Victor Vito for the Hong Kong and Adelaide legs.

The inspirational Stick returns in place of the injured Gio Aplon, while Chase Minnaar is also included, replacing Paul Delport, who like Aplon is also suffering from a knee injury.

The hugely popular Hong Kong tournament is a vital event on the Series calendar because it will be played over three days and, more importantly, has 30 points on offer to the winner compared to the standard winning bonus of 20 points. Treu announced that the captaincy duties will be shared between Neil Powell, Mpho Mbiyozo and Stick.

Stick was in sensational form for South Africa during the first two tournaments in Dubai and George, which the Bok Sevens team won in convincing style. He picked up an injury on the first day of the Wellington Sevens, which ruled him out of the USA event in San Diego and the World Cup Sevens in Dubai.

The SA team has two training matches against the Western Province Academy under its belt for the week and Treu believes that his team are well prepared.

"I am pleased at the response of the players during the training sessions and especially during the warm-up matches. We have worked really hard at what we believed were the shortcomings in Wellington, San Diego and Dubai.

"We are still joint leaders [with England] on the Series log and the guys are hungry to repeat the two good performances at these tournaments last year," said Treu.

"The urgency is back. We had a good preparation period, and I'm confident we'll produce on the field. Our preparations for the World Cup were not what they should have been. The time available was less, and coming off the San Diego tournament they were a little unsettled. Now we're back into rhythm as we were before the George and Dubai tournaments which we won.

"The guys also know that they let themselves down and didn't play to the standard they had set themselves. We simply cannot afford a slip-up in the pool stages," says Treu of the 24-team competition.

Last year South Africa were beaten finalist in Hong Kong while they captured the Adelaide title a week later by beating the Kiwi’s in a thrilling Cup final.

Coach Gordon Tietjens named Hurricanes forward Vito in his 12-man squad along with Tim Mikkelson. Vito, who often plays on the wing in sevens, had his performances in Dubai at the World Cup severely hampered due to a calf injury, but has been declared fit and available for Hong Kong.

The only new cap in the squad is Auckland’s Jordan Puletua, who will make his New Zealand Sevens debut if he takes the field in either Tournament.
Tietjens said he was delighted that the Hurricanes had agreed to make Vito available, given the importance of these two tournaments to New Zealand’s prospects in the World Series.

“It was disappointing for everyone that Victor wasn’t able to take part the way we all would have liked in Dubai because of his calf injury," said Tietjens. "But he has come through that and we expect he will be fully prepared and ready to go by next weekend.

“There is a lot riding on these next two weekends as there are extra points on offer in Hong Kong, and we are only one win away from challenging for the Series lead. We are very grateful to the Hurricanes for releasing Victor and the Chiefs for allowing Tim to join us, which is a huge help given all the injuries we have been hit with so far this year.”

South African Squad: Mpho Mbiyozo, Philip Snyman, Frankie Horne, Kyle Brown, Neil Powell, Renfred Dazel, Mzwandile Stick, Vuyo Zangqa, Ryno Benjamin, Robert Ebersohn, Lionel Mapoe, Chase Minnaar.

New Zealand Squad: Tomasi Cama, DJ Forbes, Paul Grant, Nigel Hunt, Zar Lawrence, Tim Mikkelson, Jordan Puletua, Lote Raikabula, Julian Savea, Ben Souness, Chad Tuoro, Victor Vito.