South Africa finalised their preparations for the final two IRB Series tournaments in fine fashion at the weekend by winning the Heineken Amsterdam international event.
Paul Treu's side, competing as the Samuarai Internationals, finished the tournament unbeaten winning all nine games by comfortable margins and beating the Barracudas of England 31-19 in the Cup Final.
Attacking star Gio Aplon made a convincing comeback to the Sevens fold after a year out and was crowned Player of the Tournament.
However, the team did suffer a setback when Marius Schoeman was ruled out of action for at least the next two weeks with a calf injury. Schoeman will return home and his replacement Norman Nelson is already on his way to London.
Earlier Kabamba Floors and Gio Aplon were drafted into the squad by Treu, as he looks to finish the season on a high at the Emirates Airline London and Edinburgh Sevens over the coming weekends.
Former South Africa Sevens player of the year Stefan Basson has been placed on standby after returning from club commitments in Italy.
South Africa are currently ranked second in the Series behind runaway leaders New Zealand but have appeared in the last three Cup finals and their title-winning performance in Adelaide brought to an end to New Zealand’s record-breaking unbeaten run of 47 matches and seven consecutive tournament titles.
South Africa squad: Frankie Horne, Fabian Juries, Mpho Mbiyozo, MJ Mentz, Neil Powell (captain), Norman Nelson, Schalk Van Der Merwe, Vuyo Zangqa, Danwel Demas, Kabamba Floors, Jonathan Mokuena, Gio Aplon
