Impi Visser to lead Blitzboks in North America, Grant de Jager set for debut

The squad is set to compete in back-to-back tournaments, first in Vancouver on 7-8 March, followed by New York on 14-15 March.

Blitzbok head coach Philip Snyman made six changes to the squad that claimed victory in Perth earlier this month. Visser will be joined by an experienced playmaking trio as Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown, and Dewald Human return from injury.

Davids and Brown have recovered from injuries sustained in Cape Town in December, while Human is making his first appearance of the season. Gino Cupido is also back after a late withdrawal from the Singapore and Perth legs.

The squad also includes uncapped Grant de Jager, who hails from Mpumalanga and is set to become the latest HTS Middelburg product to play for the Blitzboks, following the path of Kwagga Smith and JC Pretorius.

"Players like Zain Davids and Ricardo Duarttee are getting a break on this trip as part of the workload management, while Zander Reynders was not available for selection as he has not fully recovered from a shoulder strain picked up in Perth, and he is replaced by Grant," said Snyman.

"I am happy to include Grant, he is an extremely talented player who really works hard in the training sessions and he deserves this chance.

"Selvyn, Ronald and Dewald are senior playmakers in the squad and to have them all back is great, especially as Luan Giliomee is with the Junior Boks in Georgia."

The Blitzbok coach added that it was a tough selection call and some players were very close to making the trip to the northeast.

"Players such as Quewin Nortje and Jaydon Nell missed out as we did not want to bring back too many players back from injury for this trip," Snyman laid out the broader vision, which resulted in Nabo Sokoyi and Renaldo Young also missing out this time.

"Overall, it is an experienced and exciting squad that will travel and knowing that those players staying behind are pushing hard and creating an environment of competitive excellence, is a good place to be at for this group."

The Blitzboks will leave Cape Town on Sunday with a clear objective, the coach said: "This is a new group playing in a new tournament and we take nothing for granted. We will start from scratch, knowing that previous results do not count in our pool matches against New Zealand, Spain and Great Britain."

Springbok Sevens squad for Vancouver and New York

Christie Grobbelaar, Ryan Oosthuizen, Impi Visser (captain), Ronald Brown, Selvyn Davids, Dewald Human, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Shilton van Wyk, Donavan Don, Sebastiaan Jobb, David Brits, Tristan Leyds, Grant de Jager, Gino Cupido.

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