Treu praises 'gutsy' BlitzBokke
Coach Paul Treu was full of praise for his team after South Africa won the United States leg of the IRB Sevens World Series.
The BlitzBokke won their second US Sevens title in three seasons, with a record 40-21 win over New Zealand in a dramatic Cup Final in Las Vegas.
South Africa were in stunning form in the Final, with Branco du Preez, back in the side after missing three tournaments because of injury, putting in a stellar performance, scoring two tries and contributing a haul of 18 points overall.
In doing, the South Africans not only registered their biggest ever Cup Final win over New Zealand, but they also reclaimed second position on the Sevens World Series log. It was the team's first Cup success in two years after their win in Scotland in 2011.
The injury-hit Springbok Sevens team, superbly led by Frankie Horne, bounced back in dramatic fashion after their disappointment in Wellington last weekend, where they only managed to win one of their matches.
South Africa become the fifth team to win a title this season, showing just how competitive the World Series is.
Afterwards, SA coach Paul Treu described the achievement of his team as "a huge and gusty performance".
"I'm just so glad for the guys," Treu said.
"They deserve this win because they work so hard during training. We were all very disappointed after what happened in Wellington, but they showed great heart, commitment and determination to bounce back and deliver such outstanding performances against Samoa and New Zealand," Treu added.
"We haven't had this feeling for a while now. It's a while since we last won a Cup. So this is well deserved.
"We put all the hard work in back in Stellenbosch, and every win gives you more confidence and hopefully we can build on this to use as a platform for the rest of the season.
"The team must enjoy every moment of this win.."
An emotional Paul Delport could not hide his delight after the final whistle.
"It was just tremendous fight from the boys," Delport said.
"We said after what happened last week, that we never going to forget that.
"We set such a high standards for ourselves, we need to come out and perform like that every time," Delport added,
He added: "This is huge for us. We put in so much effort back home – there are just no words to describe this winning feeling."
The BlitzBokke defeated Series leaders New Zealand after leading 28-0 at half-time in a fantastic display with some superb tries.
Chris Dry (2), Warren Whiteley and Du Preez all scored converted tries in an action-packed first half. The South Africans were creative on attack and solid on defence and never allowed the Kiwis to gain any momentum.
Two more tries after the interval, scored by Du Preez and Stephan Dippenaar, stretched the SA total to 40 points and out of reach of New Zealand. The Kiwis, however, refused to give up and a late rally saw them scoring three quick tries through Pat Lam, Tim Mikkelson and Gilles Kaka.
Earlier in the day, South Africa won their semifinal 12-7 against defending champions Samoa thanks to a try in extra-time by speedster Seabelo Senatla after Cornal Hendricks had scored in the first half.
