Rugby
Geduld in for Afrika for London─── 08:51 Tue, 12 May 2015
The Springbok Sevens team has brought Justin Geduld into to replace the injured Cecil Afrika for the final leg of the Sevens World Series….the London Sevens.
Geduld, who just missed out on the original selection for the three week trip to Glasgow and London due to injury, has recovered and will take over from Afrika, who picked up an injury on the first day of the event in Scotland.
The Blitzbokke also had Philip Snyman injured during their captain's run in Glasgow on Friday, with Carel du Preez replacing him on short notice and staying on for the final event of the circuit.
The men in Green and Gold are currently in second place on the overall series log, five points adrift of Fiji and will need to win the London Sevens and hope the island side finish outside the top three if they want to claim the overall title.
Coach Neil Powell conceded that their injuries hurt them during the event in Glasgow and the side were a bit sluggish.
"It felt like we could not get out of the blocks on day one. It did not help that we suffered early injuries like losing Philip the day before the tournament and then Cecil yesterday.
"Against Fiji we could not keep the ball and although we defended well, paid the price," said Powell.
While the trip tot he English capital city is going to be tough, Powell feels not all it lost.
"We are still in it and nothing has changed in our aim to win the overall series. We will have a look where we can improve and work on before London. Our goal here was to stretch the lead against Fiji and we could not do that.
"Going to London we will have it all to do. We need to get the confidence of the players up so that they can go out and play," said added.
South Africa are in Pool D for the tournament along with the USA, France and Portugal.
Morgan Piek / OFM News
