The Springbok sevens team will head to Wellington for the third leg of the World Sevens Series without the injured duo of skipper Kyle Brown and key playmaker Werner Kok.

Brown has a shoulder injury and will sit out the next two tournaments‚ which also includes the series’ fourth leg in Australia.

Kok suffered knee ligament damage during the Cape Town leg last month and will be out for six to seven months.

Kok‚ the current World Sevens Player of the Year‚ is now in a race against time to be fit for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

“We’ve lost the experience of Frankie Horne and Cecil Afrika to long-term injuries as well‚” coach Neil Powell said.

“We’re pushing for Werner to be ready for the final two tournaments of the series but I doubt he will be ready. It takes at least six months and he has to make a full recovery.

“Fortunately though we have some experienced players even though they seem like youngsters. Justin Geduld and Kwagga Smith have played 17 and 20 tournaments respectively so they bring some of that experience.

“Phillip [Snyman] with 32 tournaments is also experienced and even though Juan de Jongh hasn’t played much sevens rugby‚ he has a lot of experience in the sport.”

Brown’s ability to steal ball and win restarts will be missed‚ but Smith and inexperienced Carel du Preez‚ will step into that role over the duration of the tour.

Snyman will captain the new-look squad over the next few weeks‚ in their new-look jerseys‚ which were unveiled on Wednesday.

Multinational conglomerate Steinhoff‚ which are based in Stellenbosch‚ have signed a three-year sponsorship deal.

“We are a truly South African company‚ situated right here in the Western Cape and we will try and get the bulk of our 90000 employees around the world to support the Blitzboks‚” Steinhoff chief executive Markus Jooste said.

The squad will complete their preparations with a series of training matches on Friday morning against Maties at the Paul Roos Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch before departing for Wellington on Saturday.

South Africa are the top seeds in Pool A in Wellington‚ where they will feature in group matches against Scotland‚ Russia and tournament hosts New Zealand.

The Wellington Sevens takes place at the Westpac Stadium on January 30 and 31‚ and will be followed by the Sydney event a week later on 6 and 7 February at the Allianz Stadium.

Squad: Chris Dry (46 caps)‚ Philip Snyman (32‚ captain)‚ Carel du Preez (3)‚ Kwagga Smith (17)‚ Sandile Ngcobo (0)‚ Francois Hougaard (2)‚ Cheslin Kolbe (10)‚ Ryno Benjamin (31)‚ Justin Geduld (20)‚ Rosko Specman (7)‚ Seabelo Senatla (21)‚ Juan de Jongh (3).