Dewald Human and Mfundo Ndhlovu will replace the injured Cecil Afrika and Branco du Preez in the Springbok Sevens squad for the Paris Sevens which closes the World Rugby Sevens Series season.
The experienced duo of Afrika and Du Preez suffered hamstring and shoulder injuries during the London Sevens and have returned to South Africa for treatment to be replaced by Human and Ndhlovu for this weekend's tournament at the Stade Jean Bouin in the French capital.
Human (23), who made his Springbok Sevens debut in Paris last year, will go straight into the 12-man squad this time around after captaining the side in Hong Kong in March, where they won bronze.
Ndhlovu (21), who debuted in Hong Kong earlier this season, will join the squad as 13th player as Stedman Gans, who travelled to London as the official reserve, will be promoted to the starting squad for the series-ender.
While Human and Ndhlovu are exciting prospects, there's no doubt Neil Powell's charges will feel the absence of Afrika and Du Preez as they attempt the virtually impossible, overhauling a seven-point deficit on Fiji to retain their World Rugby Sevens Series title.
Playmakers Afrika and Du Preez have played in 61 tournaments respectively for the Blitzboks and are South Africa Sevens' leading points' scorers of all time. Afrika has amassed 1430 points in 318 matches for his country while Du Preez has 1162 points in 305 matches.
The Blitzboks' squad for the Paris Sevens is:
Heino Bezuidenhout, Zain Davids, Stedman Gans, Justin Geduld, Dewald Human, Werner Kok, *Mfundo Ndhlovu, Ruhan Nel, Ryan Oosthuizen, Dylan Sage, Seabelo Senatla, Philip Snyman (captain), Siviwe Soyizwapi. *travelling reserve.