Blitzboks blow as Brown to miss remainder of Sevens season

Cape Town - Springbok Sevens player, Kyle Brown, has been ruled out of the remaining eight tournaments of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament. 

Brown sustained the injury in South Africa’s semi-final victory over New Zealand at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens tournament on Sunday.

The player will undergo surgery on Thursday, Springbok Sevens team doctor, Leigh Gordon, confirmed.

“Kyle will be operated on in Cape Town on Thursday (tomorrow) and will not be able to play for between six to nine months. This means that he will miss the remainder of the series,” Gordon said.

A number of injuries picked up in Cape Town were treated this week, but according to Gordon, none of the injuries were serious.

“Philip Snyman (hand) and Ruhan Nel (hand) underwent scans, but the results showed that they were only soft tissue injuries. They will be fit to resume training when the squad assembles again early in January,” Gordon said.

Seabelo Senatla also picked up a quadriceps muscle injury, which ruled him out of the final in which the Blitzboks were edged 19-17 by England. He will make a full recovery, Gordon said.

Carel du Preez, who strained a hamstring, and Tim Agaba, who injured his ankle during a warm-up tournament in Namibia last month, are both recovering well, as is Sandile Ngcobo (knee). Their progress will be assessed once the squad re-assembles in Stellenbosch early in January.

The next tournament in the series is in Wellington, New Zealand and will be played on 28 and 29 January.