The Australian men’s rugby sevens team have been bolstered by the return of captain Lewis Holland ahead of the second round of the Sevens World Series in Cape Town.

Holland missed out through injury as Australia lost to Samoa in the quarter-finals of the opening round Dubai Sevens last week.

As confirmed earlier in the week, Wallabies back-rower Sean McMahon joins the squad for the first time since 2014, while speedster Rod Davies also returning to the panel.

McMahon, who has 27 Test caps to his credit, wants to put himself in contention for Tokyo 2020.

Australia will meet Ireland, Kenya and Samoa as they look to top Pool D in the Western Cape of South Africa and gain valuable series points having finished round one in fifth place with 13 points.

“Bringing Lewis, Sean and Rod into the squad will freshen us up in a tough second round where we have to back up quickly,” head coach Tim Walsh said.

“We want to be a team that is constantly cracking that top four and we were disappointed to miss out last week.

“Ireland, Kenya and Samoa will bring three different styles of Sevens Rugby from all over the world, so it’s up to us to make sure we control how we want to play and play to our strengths.”

Australian squad: Joe Pincus, Jeral Skelton, Henry Hutchison, Simon Kennewell, Jesse Parahi, Sean McMahon, Lewis Holland (capt), Josh Coward, Josh Turner, Lachlan Miller, Trae Williams, Rod Davies, Matthew Hood.