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Experienced lock Eben Etzebeth was named as Springbok captain for Saturday’s first Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against Australia in Johannesburg.
He had a hard-fought reputation as the Bad Boy of Springbok rugby, but beneath that tough shell, James Small was a gentle, vulnerable man who lived a life less ordinary.
Former Springbok wing James Small, a member of the 1995 Rugby World Cup winning squad, has died suddenly from a heart attack.
A repeated criticism of the Super Rugby format is that teams have to travel across numerous time zones. For the upcoming Super Rugby final, the Jaguares will fly from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Christchurch, New Zealand.
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi will be given enough time to fully recover from his knee injury and will in all likelihood miss the opening Tests of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
The Blitzboks won the bronze final 24-7 against the USA – their final match of the World Series season held at the Paris HSBC Sevens.
A day after arriving in the French capital, the Blitzboks have been reinvigorated by the arrival of new team members and a hint of déjà vu.
There was disappointment and tempered elation in the Blitzbok camp, where they lost both their matches but still did enough to secure automatic qualification to the Olympic Games.
With just two tournaments left in the 2018/19 World Sevens Series competition, the Blitzboks only a mathematical chance of defending their world title.
Next weekend Branco du Preez competes in his 70th tournament at the London Sevens, overtaking Kyle Brown to hold the record for most tournaments for South Africa on his own.