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Local star Stedman Gans to lead Blitzboks to Australasia

A local Bulls rugby player, who has been earmarked as a future star since his school days in Pretoria, will lead the Blitzboks in their next two tournaments in New Zealand and Australia.

The Blue Bulls Currie Cup star and former pupil of Hoërskool Waterkloof, Stedman Gans, has been named the new captain of the Springbok Sevens rugby team, also known as the Blitzboks.

Gans will captain the Springbok Sevens squad to Hamilton and Sydney for the third and fourth tournaments of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, taking over the captaincy armband from the injured Siviwe Soyizwapi.

The Australasian leg of the World Series will be played in Hamilton this weekend (25-26 January) and in Sydney a week later (1-2 February).

Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell made seven changes to the squad that won the Dubai Sevens and were losing finalists at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens late last year, including handing the captaincy to Gans for the first time.

Two other Bulls stars, Dylan Sage and Rosko Specman have returned to the Bulls for Super Rugby duty and will not be part of the Blitzboks’ tour down under. However, former Tuks varsity Cup star, Impi Visser, is back in the squad.

On the decision to hand Gans the captaincy, Powell was complimentary of the former SA Schools and Junior Springbok player, who made his Blitzboks debut three years ago.

“Stedman is part of the leadership group and did very well when he captained a very senior Academy squad in Dubai last month. He is also playing very well and that helps. We do have some very experienced players in decision making roles too and that will help Stedman as well,” Powell explained.

 

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Koos Venter

Koos Venter is an experienced journalist who started his career 35 years ago, before the days of cellphones, modern computer systems, the internet and digital cameras, as a correspondent for Nexus, the former national magazine of the Department of Correctional Services. He has since worked for various other publications in all aspects of news coverage, as a columnist and in the production side of newspapers and online publications. Since 2007 he has specialized as a sports writer, while he is also regularly used as an analyst and commentator by several radio stations.
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