CAPE TOWN — For the second year in a row, the Blitzboks have suffered a major blow through injury at the Cape Town Sevens. This year it’s Chris Dry who’s out for the season. Last year, it was Kyle Brown who tore his cruciate ligaments in the semi-final and missed the rest of the season. In fact, coach Neil Powell had a number of injury worries in 2016/17 with Justin Geduld, Stephan Dippenaar and Rosko Specman all missing for varying lengths of time. Yet such is the depth in the Blitzbok squad that replacement players were strong enough to ensure that the team kept up their winning ways and secured the World Sevens title. So the alarm bells won’t be ringing just yet in the Blitzbok camp. Dry’s muscle in the clean-outs and height in the line-outs will certainly be missed, but a player like Dylan Sage is a more than adequate replacement. – David O’Sullivan
From SA Rugby
The Springbok Sevens team will be without their most experienced player for the remainder of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series after Chris Dry was ruled out due to a knee injury.
Dry, who played in his 63rd tournament last weekend, suffered major ligament damage in South Africa’s quarter-final victory over Fiji at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens tournament on Sunday.
Springbok Sevens team doctor, Leigh Gordon, said Dry will be out for at least six months. He will undergo surgery on Friday.
“Chris will be operated on in Cape Town and will not be able to play for between six to nine months, which means he will miss the remainder of the series,” Gordon said.
She also confirmed that Siviwe Soyizwapi, who replaced Dry for the last two matches of the tournament, suffered a knee injury.
“He should be able to return to play in about six weeks’ time,” Gordon said.
#Blitzboks will be without their most experienced player for the remainder of the World Rugby Sevens Series after Chris Dry was ruled out due to a knee injury.
Dry played in his 63rd tournament last weekend, suffered major ligament damage in South Africa’s quarter-final.
— EWN Sport (@EWNsport) December 12, 2017
A number of Blitzboks picked up knocks in Cape Town, but according to Gordon, none of the injuries were too serious.
“Cecil Afrika tweaked his knee and Seabelo Senatla has a soft tissue injury to his shoulder, but both will, along with the rest of the squad, be fit to train once the squad re-assembles in Stellenbosch early in January,” said Gordon.
Dylan Sage, who missed the first two tournaments of the 2017/18 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series because of a back injury, will join the squad in full training in January.
The next tournament in the series is the HSBC Sydney Sevens, to be played from 26-28 January.
Source: http://www.sarugby.co.za/article.aspx?category=sarugby/sevens&id=4196154
