SARU Sevens Academy clinch fourth Singapore crown
The SARU Sevens Academy made another clean sweep at the Singapore Cricket Club International Sevens tournament on Sunday when they defeated the Penguin Internationals 36-5 to clinch the SCC crown for the fourth time.
The South Africans, fielding several Springbok Sevens rugby internationals alongside some promising young prospects, made a winning return to the SCC after an absence of three years. Sunday’s win handed them their second international title in two months, after their victory in September at the SAFLand Windhoek tournament.
Coach Niel Powell can indeed be very pleased with the overall performance of his 12-man squad. They finished the popular tournament unbeaten and conceded only two tries in five matches, one each in the semi-final and the Cup final after they had managed to keep a clean sheet in the pools stage.
Powell is using the international warm-up tournaments as preparation for the HSBC Sevens World Series, which kicks off in December in Dubai.
The Singapore Cricket Club International Rugby Sevens is organised by the Singapore Cricket Club and is one of the oldest international invitational team sports events in Asia.
The South African outside backs were in prolific try-scoring mood and wing Rosko Specman finished the tournament as the highest try scorer after helping himself to ten tries. Siviwe Soyizwapi was equally impressive and scored nine times, while Justin Geduld crossed over for four tries.
The team scored a total of 22 tries in their three group matches and conceded their first points in the semi-finals, when they defeated the Tribe Sevens selection 12-7 in what eventually proved to be their most difficult match.
In the Cup final, the South Africans had too much firepower and finished the three-day tournament on a high with a convincing 36-5 win over the Penguin Internationals.
Afterwards, Powell said he was pleased with the early form of his squad. “We shuffled the squad around (from the one that played in Windhoek) and selected a more experienced group for Singapore because of the strength of the line-ups.
“It was the first serious outing for many of the guys after a long off-season, while some also played provincial rugby,” explained Powell.
“It was a very good exercise and we had the opportunity to try out some new combinations and test some tactics which we’ve worked on at our training camp,” added the coach.
The SARU Sevens Academy results at the Singapore Cricket Club International Rugby Sevens:
SA 67, Tamariva 0
SA 32, Cougars 0
SA 24, England Academy 0
SA 12, Tribe Sevens 7 (Cup Semi-final)
SA 36, Penguin Internationals 5 (Cup Final).
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