The DHL Western Province Sevens team will be up against the Springbok Sevens on Day One of the Assupol 7s International at Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch on Friday.
The DHL Western Province Sevens team will be up against the Springbok Sevens on Day One of the Assupol 7s International at Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch on Friday.
The tournament in Stellenbosch will be a real festival of Sevens rugby. In addition to the Springbok Sevens and sides from neighbouring Namibia and Zimbabwe, a total of sixteen club teams will also play in the amateur section.
The tournament features four other teams from Zimbabwe, Namibia and an invitational squad and was organised to give Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell’s troops a proper chance to play competitive matches with the Rugby Sevens in Rio less than six weeks away.
It will also help Powell in finalizing his squad of 12 to travel to Rio de Janeiro at the end of July.
The coach was pleased for the opportunity, not only to see how a number of contenders will perform, but also for the proper hit-out.
Powell said: “We needed competitive matches at this stage of our preparation and hopefully this is exactly what we will get. I want to thank all involved who made this possible, this will indeed be valuable for our final push towards Rio.”
The Springbok Sevens coach added: “You can train as hard and as much as you like, but nothing beat the real time of matches. Your decision-making, fitness and overall skills comes to the fore in a match and those are some of the elements I am looking for this weekend.”
Powell has a couple of hard calls to make. The return to fitness of Werner Kok and Branco du Preez, as well as Juan de Jongh, Francois Hougaard and Cheslin Kolbe’s availability have added depth to an already strong outfit that secured second place in the recent HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Add the availability of Kwagga Smith and Seabelo Senatla, both named in the World Series Dream Team, as well as the experience of the likes of Cecil Afrika, Philip Snyman, Tim Agaba, Ryan Kankowski and 50+ tournament veterans Kyle Brown and Chris Dry to name a few, then it is easy to see that Powell will have a tough job on his hands to select the final squad.
“It will be tough to make the final call, as everyone is working really hard, but we are all in this together even though we can choose only 12 to play at the Olympic Games,” admitted Powell.
Assupol 7s International fixtures:
Friday 1 July:
12h00: DHL WP v Springbok Sevens
12h22: WP Invitational vs Namibia Invitational
13h16: DHL WP vs Zimbabwe
13h38: WP Invitational v Living Academy
14h22: Springbok Sevens vs Zimbabwe
14h44: Living Academy v Namibia Invitational
15h28: DHL WP vs Springbok Sevens
15h50: WP Invitational v Namibia Invitational
16h34: DHL WP vs Zimbabwe
Saturday 2 July
10h20: WP Invitational vs Living Academy
10h42: Springbok Sevens vs Zimbabwe
11h04: Living Academy vs Namibia Invitational
Play-offs start at 12h36
Club tournament pools:
Pool A
Tygerberg
Whistling Wheels
Northerns
Caledonian Roses
Pool B
Kuilsrivier
Macassar
Eersterivier
Young Stars
Pool C
UWC
Hands & Hearts
Elsiesrivier
Goodwood
Pool D
Strand
St Georges
Belhar
Heldeberg