Special time for evergreen Geduld

It will be a proud weekend for Tygerberg High School in Cape Town – not only will Marvin Orie and Travis Ismaiel join Eben Etzebeth as recently-produced Springboks, but another one of their rugby stars, Justin Geduld (right), will achieve a special Blitzbok milestone at the London Sevens.

Geduld will play in his 35th World Rugby Sevens Series tournament at Twickenham and true to Springbok Sevens tradition, was handed a special cap to celebrate this achievement.

The 35-tournament milestone means a lot to the players and Geduld was humbled by this achievement.

“I never expected to join such a distinguished group of players It is a humbling experience,” said Geduld, who has scored 787 points in 124 matches for the Blitzboks.

“In the beginning, my dream was just to make the team, so to still be here is massive. I will certainly enjoy this experience. I just want to express myself and contribute to the team effort.”

The playmaker is one of five players back into the World Series fray and last played in Hamilton, where he suffered a broken jaw and missed the tournaments in Las Vegas, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Geduld made his return at the Commonwealth Games in April, but is champing at the bit to help the Blitzboks make it to the line and successfully defend their World Series crown.

“We are not putting any pressure on ourselves and will go out there and play as we know we can. If we do that, the results will come,” Geduld said.

Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell said the hard work in the build-up to this weekend’s tournament was done back in Stellenbosch and he applauded the energy and effort this week in London.

“We had a bigger group of player in Stellenbosch and the guys really pushed each other for a spot in the squad,” said the coach.

Powell’s men start against Russia (10.52am) today, then they face Canada (1.58pm) and Samoa (5.04pm). – Own Correspondent