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Paul Delport has been appointed South Africa captain for the 2009/2010 IRB Sevens World Series campaign.

Delport’s elevation is a natural succession after previously captaining the SA Schools and national Under-21 and Under-19 teams.

He follows in the footsteps of the likes of Mzwandile Stick, Mpho Mbiyozo and Neil Powell who have all skippered the side in previous years and have remained in the side as important senior players for the current IRB Sevens World Series champions.

Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu believes that Delport’s appointment as captain for the new season would further strengthen the existing leadership structures within the Sevens squad.

“All the senior and contracted players in the squad fully endorse Paul as their captain for the season,” said Treu.

“We want to create a platform for all our players to excel as leaders. This is part of the legacy we want to build. In the future, there will be new captains and leaders who will take over from Paul, so it’s important to have many leaders in our setup.

“The Vodacom Bulls have proved to be successful thanks to their leaders such as Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez and Bakkies Botha in their squad.”

“Our mentality within the squad is that of a team and not individuals. While Paul has been named captain, our strength will continue to be based on a team effort. That’s what I am expecting,” added Treu.

The 25 year-old represented the Vodacom Stormers and the Cats at Super Rugby level, and has played Absa Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup rugby for the Vodacom Western Province teams before switching to Sevens.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling and it’s a huge honour and challenge to captain the Springbok Sevens side, who are the best team in the world,” said Delport.

“We’re going to be faced with plenty of challenges this season but we’ve got a fantastic group of players with an excellent mix of youth and experience that should hold us in good stead. I might be the captain of the side, but on the field it’s going to be about seven individuals working together as a team to achieve the ultimate goal.”

Delport added that he intends to call on the experience of the many senior players in the Springbok Sevens squad to ensure that the team continues their success on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit.

“Our goal will be to continue from where we left off last season,” said Delport.

“We have great Sevens performers such as Mzwandile Stick, Mpho Mbiyozo, Marius Schoeman, Kyle Brown to name but a few who are all natural leaders and people that I am going to work with as a team to achieve our objectives.

“Obviously the South African rugby public demands success from all national teams and we are no exception. We’ll be going all out to ensure that we continue to make our fans proud and hopefully retain our crown by the end of the season.”

Treu on Wednesday named a squad of 26 players for the Springbok Sevens' final pre-season training camp in Stellenbosch.

The squad assembled yesterday at the Sports Science Institute in Newlands where the players will undergo a series of medical, fitness and conditioning tests before heading off to the training fields in Stellenbosch.

Treu explained the reasoning behind the selection of the enlarged squad: "We obviously want to fine-tune our preparations for Dubai and George, but we must also select a twelve man squad for the tournament in Sri Lanka."

Two players, Marlin Ruiters and Hoffman Maritz (both Free State Cheetahs U21) were added to the list after impressive performances at the National Inter-Provincials held over the weekend in Port Elizabeth.

"We have lost a number of regulars from our successful team of last season like Lionel Mapoe, Robert Ebersohn and Philip Snyman and we, therefore, need to find replacements before the start of the IRB Sevens World Series next month.

The Springbok Sevens squad begin their defence of their IRB Sevens World Series title in Dubai on December 4-5 before returning to their home leg a week later at the George Sevens.