Boks plan Kiwis' HK downfall
Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:44
The Springbok team will be going all out in their pursuit of an elusive win in Hong Kong, Round Six in the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series, which takes place at the weekend.
To secure victory at the spiritual home of Sevens rugby though, they will have to stop the rampaging New Zealand team.
South Africa has never won in Hong Kong, but came close in 1997 when they were beaten in the Final by the Fijians.
Blocking their way will again be the unstoppable New Zealand, winners in all four tournaments of the 2007/08 IRB World Sevens Series.
The Sevens Boks are on an upward curve, having made the Final in San Diego, where they lost 12-27 to the Kiwis.
It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Kiwis in the current season on the IRB circuit – a run of results that have lead to New Zealand topping the standings with 80 points, followed by South Africa on 48, Fiji (44), Samoa (38) and Argentina (26).
Paul Treu and his 12-man squad, captained again by Neil Powell, will play in Group C in Hong Kong.
The action starts on Friday, with a match against lowly Japan, before the Sevens Boks face the strong Russians and Argentina on Saturday.
Japan, who will be playing in their first tournament of the current series, have beaten South Africa before and Treu will be mindful of what happened in Hong Kong in 2005 - when they were shocked in their opening game by Tunisia.
However, Treu feels they are ready for Hong Kong.
"We've spent almost four weeks together and have trained very hard. I'm taking an experienced team to Hong Kong and the guys will be ready," said Treu.
"If there is one slight concern, it is that we have not really been tested properly in our warm-up matches. We played in a tournament in Swellendam last weekend and while we scored many good tries, our defence was not really tested.
"Having said that, I have the utmost confidence in the experienced core of players and believe we can make things happen in Hong Kong."
With Thobela Mdaka out injured, Treu will have to make at least one change to the team that played in Wellington and San Diego.
He included a number of promising youngsters in his wider training group - such as Wilton Pietersen and Robert Ebersohn from the Free State, along with Gerhard van den Heever of the Bulls.
It is not impossible that one or more of them could be on the plane to Hong Kong.
