Stephan Dippenaar set to make Springbok Sevens debut

Stephan Dippenaar set to make Springbok Sevens debut

Stephan Dippenaar, the former Vodacom Bulls centre, is set to make his Springbok Sevens debut in New Zealand after he was included in the squad of 14 players for the next two legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series, in Wellington and Las Vegas.

Dippenaar was named at a media conference at the team’s new, state-of-the-art headquarters at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport on Tuesday. The innovative facility was identified by SARU as supporting the strategy of placing the Sevens team at the cutting edge of the sport’s development.

The World Series resumes on 3 and 4 February in the New Zealand capital after a new-look opening leg of three tournaments towards the end of 2011 in Australia, Dubai and South Africa respectively. Following the stopover in Wellington, which is regarded as one of the most popular Series destinations, the Blitzbokke will then defend their USA title in Las Vegas from 10 to 12 February.

Dippenaar signed a two year contract last year with the Springbok Sevens team and he will now get his chance to show his worth after he was included in the travelling party in the place of William Small-Smith, who is currently involved with the SA Under-20 training squad.

The team departs on Friday from the Cape Town International Airport to Wellington via Johannesburg at 13h00.

The Springbok Sevens squad for Wellington and Las Vegas is:

1. Chris Dry

2. Chase Minnaar

3. Frankie Horne

4. Boom Prinsloo

5. Cornal Hendricks

6. Kyle Brown (captain)

7. Branco du Preez

8. Bernado Botha

9. Paul Delport

10. Cecil Afrika

11. Steven Hunt

12. Mark Richards

13. Stephan Dippenaar

14. Renfred Dazel