Francois Hougaard, Rosco Speckman, Philip Snyman and Dylan Sage have been included in the Blitzboks squad for next weekend's Paris Sevens.

They replace Siviwe Soyizwapi, Branco du Preez, Chris Dry and Stephan Dippenaar respectively from the side that won bronze in Singapore last month.

Hougaard returns to the Springboks Sevens team following a stint with the Worcester Warriors and Snyman, who picked up a head-knock in Hong Kong, is now fully fit and again takes over from Dry, who replaced him in Singapore.

The return of Rosco Speckman, who last played in Vancouver, means that Du Preez misses out on the French tournament. Sage also last played in Vancouver and missed out in Hong Kong and Singapore when Dippenaar was given a run for the first time in the current series.

South Africa are currently second on the overall log. Fiji (147 points) remains firm favourites to win the overall World Rugby Sevens Series for a second year in a row, but South Africa (139) and New Zealand (135) can still pip them at the post if the Fijians falter in Europe.

The Blitzboks are grouped in Pool B with Australia, England and Brazil in Paris. They face England next Friday and Brazil and Australia on Saturday, and will be looking for a ninth consecutive Cup quarter-final berth.

Springbok Sevens – Ryan Kankowski, Philip Snyman, Tim Agaba, Kwagga Smith, Francois Hougaard, Kyle Brown, Dylan Sage, Rosco Speckman, Justin Geduld, Cecil Afrika, Seabelo Senatla, Ruhan Nel.

Photo: Renee McKay/Getty Images