Selvyn Davids to lead Blitzboks as Snyman names experienced Olympics squad

Selvyn Davids will lead the Blitzboks at the Paris Olympics as SA Rugby finalised their 14-man squad for the multi-sport event.

It's an experienced Blitzboks side with six players who have previous Olympic Games experience, including 2016 Rio bronze medallist Rosko Specman.

Specman will make his second Olympic Games appearance alongside Impi Visser, Zain Davids, Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown and Siviwe Soyizwapi, who were all part of the squad that placed fifth in Tokyo in 2021.

Brown and Katlego Letebele were named as travelling reserves and will only be called upon in the event of an injury to one of the 12 players set take up residence in the Olympic village.

Blitzboks Olympic team:

Christie Grobbelaar, Ryan Oosthuizen, Impi Visser, Zain Davids, Quewin Nortje, Tiaan Pretorius, Shaun Williams, Selvyn Davids, Tristan Leyds, Rosko Specman, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Shilton van Wyk

Reserves: Ronald Brown, Katlego Letebele

After being tipped for the Olympic podium in Tokyo, the then Neil Powell-led team could only muster a fifth-place finish at the empty Tokyo Stadium.

Interim Blitzboks head coach Philip Snyman went for consistency and stuck with the same group that won last month's Olympic repechage tournament in Monaco.

"I could not fault the effort from the guys that went to Monaco, and it was only fair that they were rewarded for that," said Snyman.

"The team missed out on qualifying for the Olympics during the normal series and at the African qualifiers, so the guys who did the job in Monaco deserved the opportunity.

"Also, as a team we played really well and with good understanding of each other, so it would have been counterproductive to break that by bringing in different players.

"I opted for the same guys that played in Monaco as