The final squads of 12 have been named for round five of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Las Vegas, with Bryan Habana and Quade Cooper two of those appearing at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
On the eve of the HSBC USA Sevens in Las Vegas the final squads of 12 have been named by the 16 head coaches for round five of the series, with more thrills and spills expected.
Heading into the halfway stage of the series after tournaments in Dubai, Cape Town, Wellington and Sydney, this weekend’s tournament is set to once again break its own attendance record at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
1,087 tries have been scored in the first four rounds with Fiji, South Africa and New Zealand separated by just points difference at the top of the standings, and the road to Rio contining.
Leaders Fiji make three changes and hand debuts to Josua Vici and Masivesi Dakuwaqa, and South Africa make six with the return of the likes of Cecil Afrika and captain Kyle Brown. Rugby World Cup 2015 hero Bryan Habana has also been named in Neil Powell’s Blitzboks’ side for his third sevens tournament, but first in 12 years, with Juan de Jongh, Francois Hougaard and Cheslin Kolbe those unavailable to Powell.
Back to back champions from Wellington and Sydney New Zealand make seven changes from the side that won in Sydney, including one late replacement as Liam Messam comes in for his first appearance in six years in place of Sonny Bill Williams who is being rested. Siona Molia and Josh Van Lieshout are set to make their debuts for Gordon Tietjens.
Another debutant is Quade Cooper who has been given the nod by Andy Friend to make his sevens debut for Australia, runners-up in Sydney. Henry Hutchison is also included having made the headlines on home soil, for his fourth event.
Elsewhere, Kenya are the most experienced side with 344 tournamentt appearances between them, one ahead of Canada who have 343. Phil Mack is set to make his 50th tournament appearance for next week’s hosts and is also just 44 points of reaching 1,000. Other milestones to look out for this weekend include:
- Ed Jenkins is five tries away from 100
- Osea Kolinisau is four tries away from 100
- Dan Norton is nine tries away from 200
- Julien Candelon is six tries from 100
- Humphrey Kayange is one try from 150
- Perry Baker is six tries from 50
- Collins Injera needs six tries to draw level with Ben Gollings on 220 tries
