Knee op puts Dry on ice for entire season
THE SPRINGBOK Sevens team will go into the remainder of the World Sevens Series without their most experienced player, Chris Dry.
The Blitzboks forward limped off the field in his team’s hard-fought 31-26 quarter-final victory over Fiji at the Cape Town leg of the Series on Sunday, and team doctor Leigh Gordon said that Dry – who will undergo surgery in Cape Town on Friday to repair serious ligament damage to his knee – will be out for at least six to nine months.
Dry played in his 63rd tournament in Cape Town.
“Chris will miss the remainder of the series,” Gordon said.
The only other injury that would require some recovery time was to Siviwe Soyizwapi, who replaced Dry for the last two matches at the Cape Town Stadium and suffered a knee injury. Gordon confirmed that Soyizwapi should be able to return to action in about six weeks, and added that while a number of Blitzboks took a few knocks in the second leg of the 2017/18 World Series, none of the other injuries were too serious.
“Cecil Africa 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 (back injury), who missed the first two tournaments, will join the squad in full training in January.
The next tournament in the Series is the Sydney Sevens, to be played from January 26-28. A week later the Series moves on to Hamilton in New Zealand.