Four Springboks in Olympic squad
Test centurion Habana though, is still involved in club duties with Toulon and will join the squad as soon as those commitments are served. All four Internationals played in at least two tournaments during the World Sevens Series in 2015/16 and proved their ability to Powell.
The squad will prepare for the Olympic Games, to be contested in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August this year. The Blitzbok players will start their preparations on Friday, with a team building exercise in Stellenbosch and Caledon. They will begin with on-field training on Monday in Stellenbosch.
The squad will be cut down to 12 members by the middle of next month and will travel to Brazil as part of Team SA.
"Bryan is keen to be part of the group, but understands that his initial absence could count against him when I make my final selection. I accept his contractual commitments with Toulon, but also recognize his willingness to contest and contribute to the final squad, whether he makes it or not.," Powell said.
Powell rewarded a number of players who helped the team to the podium in the World Series this year. The Blitzboks finished second, winning one tournament, contesting four finals and eight semifinals.
The Springbok Sevens made the quarterfinals in all 10 tournaments played and regulars such as Chris Dry, Albertus Smith, Kyle Brown, Philip Snyman, Cheslin Kolbe, Rosko Specman, Branco du Preez, Cecil Afrika, Justin Geduld, Werner Kok, Ruhan Nel and Seabelo Senatla all made the initial cut.
Newcomers to the Blitzboks in 2015/16, Tim Agaba, Dylan Sage and Siviwe Soyizwapi are also part of the squad. Powell admitted that it was a difficult decision and it will be even harder to reduce the squad to 12 next month.
"I feel for those who did not make the squad, but was impressed by their support to the rest of the guys. One of our core values is to support each other and I am proud to say it was again executed by those who did not make it.
"Looking at our objectives for the season, we obviously wanted to win the Series but it was the year of the Olympics and we needed to test some more players, not just from the XVs code, but also players that have been in our squad for a while. We wanted to give everybody a fair chance to stake his claim for a spot in the Olympic squad.
"Looking towards to the Olympics, the next two months are very important to us. We need to train with purpose and make sure we are ready come August 9, when Sevens is played in Rio. We have a good mix of Sevens and XVs players and will play in one warm-up tournament early in July before we jet off to the Olympics," Powell stated.
Springbok Sevens squad: Tim Agaba, Chris Dry, Ryan Kankowski, Albertus Smith, Kyle Brown, Philip Snyman, Dylan Sage, Cheslin Kolbe, Rosko Specman, Branco du Preez, Cecil Afrika, Justin Geduld, Francois Hougaard, Juan de Jongh, Werner Kok, Ruhan Nel, Seabelo Senatla, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Bryan Habana.
