Geduld in, Afrika out

Blitzboks regular Justin Geduld will replace injured playmaker Cecil Afrika for the final leg of the Sevens World Series in London.

Afrika picked up a knee injury on the first day of the Glasgow Sevens over the weekend and has subsequently been ruled out of this weekend's tournament to be held at Twickenham.

Geduld missed out on the original selection for the trip to Britain due to injury, but passed a stringent fitness test in order to join the Blitzboks squad in London.

'Scans revealed that Cecil will not be ready for this weekend, but we are very lucky to have Justin available again,' said coach Neil Powell. 'Cecil is a world-class player and we all know that, but so is Justin. He is also a playmaker just like Cecil and we could not have asked for a better replacement.

'Justin has proved himself in the past and did not make the Dream Team at the end of last year's series for nothing.'

The Blitzboks are in second place on the overall series log and will need to win the London Sevens and hope Fiji finish outside the top three if they want to claim the series title.

Powell said his side will fight till the last second of the season in order to try and win the overall series.

'We are disappointed as we did not play our best rugby in Scotland. But we must get back up and play with the right mindset in every game.

'Sevens is a funny sport and lots of things can still happen. We need to make sure every effort is our best one this weekend, so that we cannot blame ourselves for a lack of effort at the end of it.'

Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo