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Cape Town - The South African Sevens rugby team will play warm-up matches against the University of Cape Town's Ikeys and Stellenbosch University's Maties ahead of the Sevens World Series.

The Blitzbokke take on the Varsity Cup champions, Ikeys, in Stellenbosch on Wednesday before meeting Maties on Thursday.

This will serve as a final chance for players to impress before coach Paul Treu names his travelling squad of twelve on Friday for the opening two World Series events.

The Sevens World Series starts on November 25 on the Australian Gold Coast. Unlike previous seasons, the Series starts with three consecutive rounds. After the Australian event, there's the annual tournament in Dubai on December 2, followed by an event in Port Elizabeth on December 9.

And Treu told Die Burger newspaper that their main aim is be to do well in the first event in Australia and also the home tournament in Port Elizabeth.

The Blitzbokke's star playmaker, Cecil Afrika, is expected to miss the first two events due to a fractured cheekbone.

Afrika's replacement, Branco du Preez, is also struggling with an ankle injury, but took part in semi-contact sessions on Tuesday. Treu will consider giving him a couple of minutes' game time against the Varsity Cup champions.

Treu will pick his 12-man squad out of this group of 23 players:

Forwards:
Chase Minnaar, Kyle Brown, Frankie Horne, Chris Dry, Neil Powell, Boom Prinsloo, Reuben Johannes (DHL Western Province), Cornal Hendricks, Dirk Dippenaar, Pieter Engelbrecht.

Backs:
Paul Delport, Cecil Afrika, Branco du Preez, Steven Hunt, Renfred Dazel, Bernado Botha, Mark Richards, Craig Barry, Tshotsho Mbovane, William Small-Smith, Stephan Dippenaar, MJ Mentz, Robert Ebersohn.