The 26-year-old winger takes over the captaincy armband from Philip Snyman, who is still busy with recovery protocols following a head knock in Vancouver, and will return to the Far East with good memories, having made his Blitzboks debut at the Hong Kong National Stadium in 2016.

Since then, Soyizwapi represented the team in a total of 24 World Series tournaments and scored 77 tries in 124 matches. In fact, the Maclear-born speedster is the leading try-scorer in the team this season, with 21 tries.

A Hong Kong debut is also on the cards for 20-year-old Angelo Davids, who was named on the wing in place of Muller du Plessis as Springbok Sevens coach, Neil Powell, was forced into three changes from the squad that returned from Vancouver as HSBC Canada Sevens champions earlier this month.

With Snyman out of action, Ryan Oosthuizen comes back into the starting team. Oosthuizen was in the squad that played in Las Vegas, but picked up a hamstring injury at the Nevada event and missed the tournament in Canada.

JC Pretorius, who made the Dream Team in Vancouver, will also miss out due to injury. Powell moved Werner Kok to the forwards for this trip and Kok’s regular slot out wide will be taken by Kurt-Lee Arendse, who travelled to Canada as a replacement, but was called into the team for the last two matches at BC Place and will now make a first trip with the team as a playing member.

Chris Dry, who missed the North American leg of the World Series due to injury, is fit again and will fly east with the team on Saturday as back-up.

The Blitzbok squad for Hong Kong is:

1. Ryan Oosthuizen (13 tournaments, 61 matches, 65 points, 13 tries)

2. Sako Makata (2 tournaments, 9 matches, 0 points)

3. Impi Visser (6 tournaments, 35 matches, 20 points, four tries)

4. Zain Davids (18 tournaments, 88 matches, 60 points, 12 tries)

5. Werner Kok (43 tournaments, 218 matches, 485 points, 97 tries)

6. Kurt-Lee Arendse (one tournament, two matches, 0 points)

7. Branco du Preez (67 tournaments, 339 matches, 1120 points; 88 tries, 387 conversions, 1 penalty, 1 drop goal)

8. Selvyn Davids (11 tournaments, 53 matches, 237 points, 27 tries, 51 conversions)

9. Justin Geduld (42 tournaments; 217 matches, 904 points - 95 tries, 213 conversions, 1 penalty)

10. Stedman Gans (15 tournaments, 69 matches, 105 points, 21 tries)

11. Siviwe Soyizwapi (captain; 24 tournaments, 124 matches, 385 points, 77 tries)

12. Angelo Davids (on debut)

13. Chris Dry (66 tournaments; 331 matches, 465 points, 93 tries) – travelling reserve

The Springbok Sevens’ Pool A fixtures:

Friday 5 April:

12h06: Japan

Saturday 6 April:

05h41: Scotland

09h22: Samoa