Nokwe will feature in George

All eyes turn to the South Cape capital

The International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens road show moves to South Africa this week, with the south-coast capital of George hosting the second leg of the 2004/05 IRB Sevens.

While England, winners in Round One in Dubai, will be looking to cement their current first place in the overall series, the hosts have a major injury crisis to overcome.

The Springboks, who went down 14-5 in a bruising semi-final encounter with England in Dubai, have lost captain Marc de Marigny, who tore his knee ligaments in scoring his team's only try in the semi, and powerful winger Anton Pitout, who broke his ankle during that match.

De Marigny is out for nine months and Pitout for six.

Having started the Dubai leg without seasoned stars like Fabian Juries, due to an ankle injury sustained in a training accident (his out for three months), and Marius Schoeman (injured quadriceps muscle - two months), Bok coach Paul Treu will have to look beyond his current squad to find some replacements.

True confirmed on Monday that he has called up Jonghikhaya Nokwe, the Boland flyer who hasn't touched a ball in anger on South Africa's just completed tour of the British Isles and Argentina.

When he was called up to tour with the Boks, coach Jake White claimed he was the fastest man in South African rugby, but Nokwe has done nothing other than carrying tackle bags on the five-Test trip, and will now get his big break on the Sevens circuit.

The Springbok Sevens coach, Treu, was also informed on Monday that Sharks flyer Brent Russell have suffered a broken nose in the Springboks' 39-7 win over Argentina at the weekend. Russell went for a scan on Monday after arriving back with the Boks from Buenos Aires and has also been ruled out of the George event.

True said he has called up Sevens veterans Wayne van Heerden and Dale Heidtman to cover for the large number of injuries his team has suffered.

With or without the injury problems, the South Africans will have their work cut out at Outeniqua Park in George this coming weekend - Friday December 10 and Saturday December 11.

Treu felt his team did not play to their true potential in Dubai and that they only have themselves to blame for going out in the semi-finals.

He also said the injury setbacks could not be used as excuses.

"We didn't lose the game [semi-final against England] because of the injuries," Treu said, "We lost it because we deviated from our game plan and they sucked us into contact when we didn't need to be sucked in."

All 16 teams for the George leg of IRB Sevens series arrived in South Africa on Sunday.

As was the case in Dubai, trophies are up for grabs in four sections - the Cup for the overall winners, as well as Plate, Bowl and Shield honours that are determined by how teams fare in the knockout rounds on day two.

A high quality George field this year includes the defending SA Sevens champions England [now also the Dubai champions) - after they won in George last year - and current IRB Sevens series title holders New Zealand.

Add to that other leading contenders in South Africa, Argentina, Australia, France, Fiji and Samoa.

The field of 16 teams is completed by Portugal, Kenya, Scotland, Canada, Namibia, Arabian Gulf, Ireland and Tunisia.

Teams are divided into four pools of four with round robin matches played on Friday December 10. The knockout rounds are played on Saturday December 11.

The top two teams in each section qualify for the Cup quarter-finals, whilst the bottom two will contest the Bowl quarter-finals.

The losers of the Bowl quarter-finals go into the Shield competition, whilst the Cup quarter-final losers go into the Plate competition.

The IRB Sevens series is now into its sixth year and has seen instrumental in significantly growing the global base of the seven-man code.

The South African Sevens tournament has been part of the IRB Sevens Series since its inception in 1999. It was first staged in Stellenbosch, then moved to Durban for two years and then to George - where it will have its third season this week.

By Jan de Koning