Blood ready for next step

“What have I done now?”

This is the question Dalvon Blood (above) asked himself last Sunday morning when he received two phone calls in quick succession, the first from Springbok Sevens team doctor Janesh Ganda, to come and see him, and immediately thereafter from SA Rugby Sevens High Performance Manager, Marius Schoeman.

Blood was expecting a call from Ganda, who checked out his shoulder after he took a bump the day before, playing with the SA Rugby Sevens Academy in a tournament at Markötter Stadium, but when Schoeman called, he got worried.

Two minutes later the frown turned into a huge smile, one that was still on the face of the former Rondebosch Boys’ High, Western Province Schools, SA Under-18 Sevens and Junior Springboks player 48 hours later.

“I was really thinking I am in trouble and not sure why when both called me,” Blood recalled his last-minute call-up to the Springbok Sevens team to play in the France Sevens in Toulouse this weekend.

“Then ‘Doc’ told me my shoulder checked out fine and ‘Shoes’ (Schoeman) asked if I am ready to play on the World Series circuit. The feeling of joy and relief that went through my body removed any pains I had before that.

“I was told Selvyn (Davids) was a late withdrawal and that I was to replace him. It was the best news ever,” Blood added, still smiling.

Blood’s first training session in Toulouse was pretty emotional for the 20-year-old as he was handed his first training jersey and welcomed into the squad by team captain, Siviwe Soyizwapi and the team’s most capped player, Branco du Preez.