South Africa speedster Bryan Habana has been called up to the Springboks Sevens squad ahead of the upcoming HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series rounds in Las Vegas and Vancouver.
The 32-year-old will join the squad in Stellenbosch on Tuesday with a view to making it into head coach Neil Powell’s 12-man squad. Powell will announce his team on Thursday ahead of the fifth round of the series which takes place in the USA on 4-6March.
“His presence in the squad will also be a great motivational factor for our guys” Neil Powell
The Rugby World Cup winner tops the record books as South Africa’s all-time top scorer, with 64 in all test matches. However Habana is not a complete stranger to the games of sevens having made appearances back in 2004 in Los Angeles and Wellington before being called up into the Springboks 15s set-up.
South Africa are currently joint top on points in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series standings with 69, along with Fiji and New Zealand. They have one tournament victory so far this series after beating Argentina in Cape Town and made the final in Wellington against New Zealand where they were beaten in the last seconds by a late Joe Webber score.
Habana joins the likes of Juan de Jongh and Francois Hougaard in the South Africa training squad, two players who have joined the sevens circuit from 15s, and head coach Neil Powell is excited by his inclusion in the squad.
“Bryan is one of those players that always has a lot of energy,” he said. “Apart from that, he brings with him a lot of experience of playing rugby at the very top level, so in that sense his presence in the squad will also be a great motivational factor for our guys.
“I can tell you Bryan is very eager to learn. He realises that it’s been a very long time since he last played sevens, but he is excited by this challenge and really looking forward to be part of our system.”
South Africa have also been bolstered by the inclusion of Cecil Afrika, Justin Geduld, Branco du Preez and Kyle Brown who have all returned to full training following injuries.
