• • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Stumble Upon
  • Furl

South Africa's Sevens side received another blow today with the forced withdrawl of Renfred Dazel from the squad.

Paul Treu had originally named Dazel in his side on Monday, ahead of the next legs of the IRB Sevens World Series in Wellington and Las Vegas.

However, after regaining full fitness, the playmaker’s troublesome knee flared up again during training earlier this week and been replaced by Vodacom Blue Bulls U21 player Branco du Preez.

Dazel missed the season opening IRB Sevens World Series tournaments in Dubai and George last December after undergoing minor knee surgery.

It’s another setback for Paul Treu, who has been plagued by injuries and player unavailability all season. The Boks, holders of the IRB Series, have been eliminated at the quarter-final stages at the first two events of the 2009/10 season so far and are currently lying in seventh position in the table.

Dazel was one of the major forces on South Africa’s victorious campaign last year, with his ‘game-breaking’ abilities badly missed by Treu in Dubai and George.

Dazel’s replacement, the 19-year old Du Preez, is equally at home at fly half and centre, is the fourth uncapped player called up.

All the newcomers received their Springbok Sevens colours at a capping ceremony earlier today in Newlands. The team travels on Saturday to Wellington via Johannesburg and Sydney. The other newcomers in the team are Philip van der Walt, Hoffman Maritz and Steven Hunt.

Treu said the Wellington and Las Vegas tournaments offer great opportunities for the youngsters to impress in the absence of the team’s regulars.

“We trained very hard in Stellenbosch and youngsters added a lot of enthusiasm and new energy to our team environment. It is unfortunate that we have to travel to New Zealand and the USA without so many regulars, but these tournaments present the youngsters with an opportunity to step up to a new level.

“They impressed me during the warm-up tournaments in Sri Lanka and Argentina, but the Series tournaments are obviously much tougher and more demanding,” said Treu.

Springbok Sevens squad for Wellington and Las Vegas (SARU contracted unless indicated):

Mpho Mbiyozo, Chase Minnaar, Frankie Horne, Cecil Afrika, Kyle Brown, Branco du Preez (Vodacom Blue Bulls U21), Ryno Benjamin, Mzwandile Stick, Marius Schoeman, Steven Hunt (Vodacom Western Province U21), Hoffman Maritz, Philip van der Walt (both Vodacom Free State U21)