South Africa Sevens will start their London Sevens Tournament with their opening match against RWC Sevens winners Wales.
The top seeded Springbok Sevens and Wales will play each other in the opening match of the London Sevens as Paul Treu’s side look to take a step closer to their first ever IRB Sevens World Series crown.
The two-day tournament in England is the penultimate tournament fixture on the World Series calendar. The popular Series ends a week later when Edinburgh play host to rugby’s Sevens stars.
South Africa has won three tournaments so far this season and they will be in action in three matches on the first day. The Springbok Sevens take on Wales in Pool A, followed by Germany and tackle Australia in their final fixture on day one.
Paul Treu’s team retained their Adelaide Sevens crown in their last outing, a result which stretched their overall lead over second placed England (76 points) to 28 points.
Hong Kong winners Fiji will face the much-improved Kenya side in Pool C, who will be buoyed by their first ever Series Cup final appearance in Adelaide. The USA and Scotland make up the rest of the pool.
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The Springbok Sevens defeated Kenya by 26-7 in the first all-Africa World Series Cup final played at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday morning (SA time) thereby retained the Adelaide Sevens title. The victory also allowed South Africa to stretch their World Series lead to 28 points over England.
South Africa thoroughly deserved their title again as they first had to overcome New Zealand and Fiji before their convincing display against Kenya on the third and final day of the tournament. In doing so they also exacted revenge for their 15-14 pool loss against the same opposition on day two at the Adelaide Oval.
Paul Treu’s team went into the halftime break with a vital 14-7 lead after tries by Robert Ebersohn and Vuyo Zangqa. The Kenyan captain Humphrey Kayange replied with a fine converted effort.
After the break, Kenya came out attacking the SA line almost at will, but the Springbok Sevens held firm and their defence was simply outstanding.
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The next installment in the exciting IRB Sevens World Series starts tomorrow in Adelaide and SA Sevens is ready to defend it’s crown from last year.
The Springbok Sevens won the 2008 final against a powerful New Zealand team and they eventually finished second on the Series log behind their great rivals.
The South Africans shrugged off their disappointing showing at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai with some sparkling displays of attacking rugby in Hong Kong last weekend, where they lost a thrilling final by two points to crowd favourites Fiji.
That performance allowed Paul Treu’s men to regain the outright lead on the Series log (84 points). Another good showing in Adelaide will edge the SA team closer to their ultimate dream of winning the Series outright for the first time.
Last weekend the team lost the services of Philip Snyman who, during the past few months, have developed into a key member of the team. Snyman sustained a hip injury in Hong Kong and have already returned home to Bloemfontein.
Howard Noble has already joined the team as replacement and his experience has allowed him to slot in easily with the rest of the squad.
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The Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu has made two changes to the squad that will be competing in the upcoming IRB World Series tournaments in Hong Kong and Adelaide.
The inspirational Mzwandile Stick returns in place of the injured Gio Aplon, while Chase Minnaar replaces Paul Delport who, like Aplon, also suffers from a knee injury. The South African squad leaves on Sunday for Hong Kong via Johannesburg.
The hugely popular Hong Kong tournament is a vital event on the Series calendar because it will be played over three days and, more importantly, has 30 points on offer to the winner as suppose to the standard winning bonus of 20 points. The tournament starts on Friday 27 March.
Treu announced that the captaincy duties will be shared between Neil Powell, Mpho Mbiyozo and Stick. Stick was in sensational form for South Africa during the first two tournaments in Dubai and George, which the Bok Sevens team won in convincing style. He picked up an injury on the first day of the Wellington Sevens, which ruled him out of the USA event in San Diego and the World Cup Sevens in Dubai.
The SA team has two training matches against the Western Province Academy under its belt for the week and Treu believes that his team is well prepared.
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