Paul targets Treu Sevens Boks
Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:23
South Africa Sevens coach Paul Treu has spoken with three of the big name players to have used Sevens as a springboard to the 15-a-side game about rejoining his increasingly professional set-up in the abbreviated version.
"I spoke with Kabamba Floors and Gio Aplon, and I spoke with Stefan Basson just before we flew out to Hong Kong," said Treu, in Australia ahead of this weekend's Adelaide Sevens - Round Six in the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series.
"They are three players that I would like to see back in our system, and I'm going to continually look for new talent. Danwell Demas is another player whose contract with the Blue Bulls is coming to an end at the end of the season. If we could have those four players it would be a huge advantage to us."
In the past Treu has watched on in envy as Gordon Tietjens' contracted players have produced consistent performances based on continuity of selection for New Zealand but it
now looks as if Treu could start to rival that Kiwi set-up.
South Africa have a new full time Sevens training facility and Treu believes that even at this early stage the new developments are bearing fruit.
"If you take into account what we've started to implement in South Africa I think we can definitely see that the benefits and rewards are starting to pay off now," he said.
"For two tournaments in a row we've fielded the same starting line-up in two Cup finals and that's an amazing achievement for a South African Sevens team."
Last year in Adelaide Treu's side lost to eventual winners Fiji in the Cup quarterfinals and were then well beaten by the hosts in the Plate Final, 31-0. Treu now wants nothing more than to cement second place in the series behind a New Zealand team he considers almost unbeatable.
"We've set a target of finishing second this year and I think it will mean a lot to the players if we can achieve that. This is
probably the most important tournament for us, here in Adelaide, because we would like to secure that second spot.
"I like to look at the positives and we've played in two finals and we didn't play well. If we can play to our potential then I really think that we can win here.
"I'm actually looking forward to this weekend, to our first games and to the match against Auatralia. I know it's going to be tough, they beat us here convincingly last year and that's something we haven't forgotten about."
