He’s South Africa’s record try scorer, and a world champion, but Bryan Habana will not have the chance to add an Olympic medal to his rugby resumé.
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Hard-working former Southern Kings No 8 Tim Agaba was rewarded for an excellent season in his first year of sevens rugby, with his intense physicality complemented by a dynamic attacking skill-set for such a big man.
“I find myself incredibly fortunate to have become a part of a very special brotherhood, to have pushed myself further than what I had imagined in making the transition over to 7s”.
Coach Neil Powell has kept faith with his sevens specialists in naming a 12-man squad for next month’s Rio 2016 Games, meaning Habana misses out along with fellow Springboks internationals Francois Hougaard and Ryan Kankowski.
“It was really tough finalising the 12-man squad presented to SASCOC”, Powell said.
Hougaard has been included as one of two travelling replacements, along with Chris Dry, in the squad named by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.
Meanwhile, the women’s rugby sevens team is largely that which was expected, with a strong continuation from that which won the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series earlier this year.
South Africa’s Kwagga Smith (R) is tackled by Australia’s Jesse Parahi during their quarter- …
“Our goal is to go to Rio and win gold and it is something we speak about every day”, Williams said in a statement.
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Habana, who has played 117 tests for South Africa’s main 15-a-side team, had been named in an initial training squad for the Olympics.
