Form Boks look good for London
Tue, 20 May 2008 23:44
The South African squad arrived in London on Monday on a high after winning their warm-up tournament in Amsterdam, getting some much needed preparation done before the last two tournaments of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series in London (this week) and Edinburgh.
Even though the Boks lost a lot of players because of injury, the latest being the experienced Marius Schoeman, coach Paul Treu still maintains the team have a good chance of winning in London or Edinburgh.
"Our preparation has been perfect and while we were always expected to win in Amsterdam, I was especially pleased about our defence on the second day, when we played a number of stronger teams," said Treu.
"We also lost a few players from our Adelaide squad, but our team dynamic was thankfully not affected. Renfred Dazel and Mzwandile Stick, two of our stalwarts, are injured, while the exciting Free State Cheetahs duo of Robert Ebersohn and Wilton Pietersen are with the SA Under-20 squad.
"Luckily we got back experienced guys, such as Kabamba Floors, Danwel Demas and Gio Aplon, who was the player of the tournament in Amsterdam. All of them slotted in very well and we are looking forward to playing at Twickenham this weekend," explained Treu.
The Sevens Boks' first game is against the unpredictable French - a team South Africa has only lost three times to in 25 games. After that Spain and England lie in wait.
"The French are capable of beating anyone on their day and we are very cautious of them. We will see what Spain can do in their game against England, but we are expecting the English to have their tails up. In order for us to avoid New Zealand in the quarterfinals, we have to win all our pool games," added Treu.
Either Norman Nelson or Stefan Basson will replace the injured Schoeman. Basson, who has been playing club rugby for Rovigo in Italy, joined the squad in Amsterdam. Treu has until Thursday to name his final squad of 12 players.
New Zealand are the runaway log leaders and will most certainly clinch the title in London. According to Treu, the Kiwis are again the firm favourites in England.
"They need something like six points to clinch the series and will be focused on that. When we do meet the bigger teams on Sunday, our analysis will have to be spot-on. We have had a good season, steadily building, and would like to finish on a high by winning at least one of the final two tournaments."
* Interesting facts: Fabian Juries, with 35 tries, is still the top try-scorer this season. Renfred Dazel, who is out injured, is third on the list of top points scorers for 2007/08 with 163, behind Tomasi Cama of New Zealand (211) and Juries (175). MJ Mentz (15) and Dazel (13) are South Africa's next best try scorers.
