Blitzboks brace for final World Series event in LA

Blitzboks coach Neil Powell has named his squad for next weekend's LA Sevens event.

The event will take place at Dignity Health Sports Park and is the last stop on the 2021/22 World Rugby Sevens Series calendar. 

The Springbok Sevens side will tour without stalwarts Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown, Christie Grobbelaar and Mfundo Ndhlovo, all of whom were instrumental in the team's gold medal-winning performance at the recent Commonwealth Games.

The quartet picked up injuries in Birmingham that ruled them out of the trip to the USA.

But there's enough quality to replace them, with the likes of Branco du Preez, Darren Adonis, Ryan Oosthuizen and Shilton van Wyk back in the mix.

A lot is at stake in California as the Blitzboks lead Australia by two points and Argentina by six atop the World Series standings.

However, Powell said the defending series champions were not taking any calculators with them to Los Angeles.

"We are not going to try and work out permutations, we would rather seal the deal by coming out on top in Los Angeles," said Powell.

"The confidence and mood in the camp is good after the good results in Birmingham, but that is something in the past. We have a very tough pool and as usual, we will be looking to set a strong standard in our first game and work from there."

The Blitzboks will feature in Pool B alongside New Zealand, USA and Canada, and will open the tournament with a match against the hosts. They depart for the USA on Saturday.

Blitzboks squad: 

1. Sako Makata - 15 tournaments, 63 matches, 55 points (11 tries)

2. Ryan Oosthuizen - 31 tournaments, 146 matches, 150 points (30 tries)

3. James Murphy - 9 tournaments, 35 matches, 30 points (6 tries)

4. Zain Davids - 32 tournaments, 162 matches, 160 points (32 tries)

5.