SA Sevens aiming for third tournament title in 2013
The Springbok Sevens team will be looking to become the first team on the HSBC Sevens World Series circuit to win three tournaments in the 2012/13 season when they take to the Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow on Saturday. The BlitzBokke have won the tournaments in Las Vegas and Tokyo earlier in the Series, with only Fiji being able to emulate that, with the Pacific Islanders winning in Gold Coast and Hong Kong.
In fact, five teams overall have tasted success so far in the current Series, with Samoa (Dubai), New Zealand (South Africa) and England (Wellington) the other victors.
South Africa, currently in second place on the World Series log with 100 points, will face Kenya, Canada and Samoa in a difficult pool A pairing.
Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu admitted to the uphill battle his team faces, especially as they had to travel to Glasgow without injured playmakers Branco du Preez and Cecil Afrika.
“Canada and Samoa beat us in Wellington and although we have beaten them again after that, it shows how competitive things are on the circuit at the moment,” Treu said.
“They are both very capable and strong teams.”
Treu also has a lot of respect for Kenya, their African rivals.
“Kenya has improved tremendously since Mike Friday took over and has become one of the toughest teams to play against. We need to get past them first, only then can we can focus on the next opponent.”
Treu explained the tactics they are likely to follow: “Our aim is to just get past day one. We have to bank on our experience, as we have our regular playmakers out with injury. We will have to use that experience, especially on day one. What is going to be important for us, is to use our opportunities.
“We have created a lot of opportunities during the Series. We would like to get urgency on attack, but also have the patience to keep the ball. We need to work the ball and make sure we can put guys like Justin Geduld and Seabelo Senatla in space, because we need to score tries,” Treu said.
New Zealand leads the current standings with 132 points. They are in pool B and will face Scotland, England and Portugal. In pool C Australia will face Fiji, Argentina and Spain. In pool D, France, USA, Wales and Russia will clash.
The Springbok Sevens team for the Glasgow Sevens tournament is:
1 Chris Dry
2 Philip Snyman
3 Frankie Horne
4 Jamba Ulengo
5 Cornal Hendricks
6 WJ Strydom
7 Paul Delport
8 Stephan Dippenaar
9 Pieter Engelbrecht
10 Justin Geduld
11 Seabelo Senatla
12 Steven Hunt
The South African matches on Saturday (SA time) are:
Kenya 11h55
Canada 15h00
Samoa 18h55
•Media Advisory
Audio clips of Paul Treu being interviewed in Afrikaans and English are available at the links below:
•Paul Treu interview in English
•Paul Treu interview in Afrikaans
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