Tiaan Pretorius is the only new player in the Blitzboks squad for the second leg of the 2024 SVNS series, kicking off at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
The former SA Schools centre replaces Christie Grobbelaar, who hurt his ankle in the South Africans’ title win in Dubai last week.
Pretorius has played in five sevens tournaments, yet makes his first appearance in Cape Town.
Head coach Sandile Ngcobo said he has faith in Pretorius, who adds speed and versatility to the Blitzbok pack.
Pretorius, who was schooled at Paul Roos Gymnasium and represented Western Province and SA Schools, made his Blitzbok debut in Dubai in 2022.
“Tiaan has been around for a season or two now and understands what we want to achieve on the field,” said Ngcobo.
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“The advantage of having him in the squad, bar his speed, is that he can play either loosehead or hooker, pretty much like Ryan Oosthuizen as well, and that gives us nice options to rotate. He is also very good on the ball and will be a menace at the breakdown when he is on the field.
“Tiaan has been working hard with the rest of the squad in the last couple of months, so will slot in without a problem.”
The Blitzbok coach said the different pool opponents in Cape Town will not change their strategy much.
“We will approach the tournament the same as in Dubai, although there will be different opponents in our pool,” he said.
“We still need to go and stay within the system and execute. We got back to zero for this one, so it’s a fresh start with the knowledge that the things we worked before the season kicked off will bring rewards if we stay disciplined and focused.”
Ngcobo missed the Dubai tournament due to medical reasons and said he is delighted to be back next to the field: “I had full faith in Philip [Snyman] and Marius [Schoeman] to do the job. I missed being next to the field, as you want to have your pulse on the things as they develop.
“The analysis part afterwards stayed the same, but not being there was a bit frustrating, so yes, I’m happy to be next to the field this weekend,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kemisetso Baloyi and Byrhandrè Dolf will replace the injured Zintle Mpupha and Libbie Janse van Rensburg for the national women’s sevens squad, which will see Dolf making her debut.
Blitzboks Pool A fixtures on Saturday:
vs Great Britain, 10:50am
vs USA, 2:18pm
vs Ireland, 7:40pm
Full Blitzboks squad:
Forwards
Tiaan Pretorius 5 tournaments, 10 points
Ryan Oosthuizen – 44 tournaments, 200 points
Impi Visser – 33 tournaments, 165 points
Zain Davids – 41 tournaments, 190 points
Katlego Letebele – 1 tournament, 0 points
Masande Mtshali – 6 tournaments, 10 points
Backs
Ronald Brown – 14 tournaments, 352 points
Selvyn Davids (captain) – 30 tournaments, 591 points
Dewald Human – 23 tournaments, 253 points
Justin Geduld – 55 tournaments, 1098 points
Shilton van Wyk – 14 tournaments, 150 points
Rosko Specman – 31 tournaments, 426 points
Quewin Nortje – 1 tournament, 20 points
Photo: @Blitzboks/Twitter
