Double defending Australia Sevens champions South Africa are determined to put their difficult preparations behind them ahead of tomorrow's kick off.

The Boks lost stand-in captain Mzwandile Stick last week, due to a knee injury with regular captain Paul Delport, seriously injuring his ankle in December.

Furthermore, Coach Paul Treu only departed for Australia, for the fifth leg of the IRB Sevens World Series, yesterday after staying behind in Cape Town to be with his mother, who is ill in hospital.

New Skills Coach Jason Stanton, an Australian Touch Rugby specialist, has taken over in his absence.

Treu said it’s been a difficult week for him staying behind and the team also had a very long journey over to Australia.

But the rest of the team management and the senior players know what to do and took control this week.

The Springbok Sevens team played in warm up game against Wales yesterday and according to Treu it went well.

He said the key now is to get the players refreshed before the tournament starts tomorrow.

They need to build on the momentum they got by beating England and Fiji in the plate in Las Vegas.

The Australia sevens tournament, which was won by South Africa in 2008 and 2009, kicks off tomorrow.

The Springbok Sevens team is in Pool B with Samoa, recent winners in Las Vegas, as well as France and Japan.