Makata, Davids to bring the energy

For Sako Makata, watching the Blitzboks grind to a stuttering halt in Toulouse was a painful and frustrating experience, especially knowing how much the team was hurting following their unexpectedly disappointing showing at the HSBC France Sevens. 

Sitting in the Western Cape and unable to do anything about the happenings in the south of France made him feel helpless too.

The situation will be vastly different for him at Twickenham on Saturday as Makata promises to bring heaps of energy to his team in London. 

Makata and Angelo Davids joined the Blitzboks from South Africa in place of the injured Pretorius duo of Tiaan and JC, and for the new arrivals it is all a matter of contributing as much as possible.

"I was gutted to miss out on the most of Singapore and then Vancouver and obviously Toulouse, but now I have another chance to contribute, and I want to make it count," said the forward, who was in fine form before injury struck. 

"Watching from the outside was agonising as you feel you can do things differently, but it is maybe because you are watching from a different perspective being far away." 

Davids, who was donning the DHL Western Province jersey during the first seven tournaments of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, said he was still doing 'Sevens stuff' to keep sharp and felt he integrated well already.

"I was hoping to bring the smiles back and I think it worked," said Davids. "We had a great session today and I think one of the reasons was because the guys had their smiles back. We had no luck in Toulouse and that compounded the mistakes we were making. I am positive it will be fixed this weekend." 

Davids was always set to return to the Sevens code in order to push for a Rugby World Cup Sevens spot, so although it was a bit sooner than expected, he is keen to be back.

"I was actually on my way to church on Sunday when the call came, so that was a good sign for me," Davids smiled.