Blitzboks announce Olympic training group

Cape Town - A Blitzbok training group of 14 players will attend a three-day Team South Africa Olympic training camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. The camp will be held from Friday 18 March to Sunday 20 March.

SASCOC will share key information with athletes and management regarding preparation plans for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will both be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil later this year.

The Blitzboks training group consist of players who are all contracted to SA Rugby. No current Vodacom Super Rugby players or any overseas-based players were considered for the training camp. Kyle Brown, who has a chest injury and is currently in Canada, as well as Werner Kok (knee rehabilitation) were also not considered for the camp.

“This is an exciting time as we look forward to the Olympic Games, which will be a highlight of the season, but the players know that we have four tournaments on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to play and a lot can still change,” said Neil Powell, coach of the Springbok Sevens team.

“We will cast the net far and wide as we prepare for the Games as we want to ensure we take the best team to Brazil to contend for Olympic gold.”

 The following Springbok Sevens training group will attend the Team SA Olympic preparation camp:

1.       Frankie Horne

2.       Philip Snyman

3.       Dylan Sage

4.       Sandile Ngcobo

5.       Branco du Preez

6.       Justin Geduld

7.       Cecil Afrika

8.       Ruhan Nel

9.       Kwagga Smith

10.   Rosko Specman

11.   Seabelo Senatla

12.   Carel du Preez

13.   Tim Agaba

14.   Siviwe Soyizwapi