Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu says star playmaker Cecil Afrika’s return will be a major boost at the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens.
The South Africans were without Afrika in this past weekend’s Dubai leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series after he injured his ribs at the Gold Coast tournament in Australia the previous week.
But Afrika is expected to be back this week when the Sevens World Series heads to South Africa, with Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium playing host to the event.
The Blitzbokke will be under pressure to perform after they were disappointingly knocked out in the quarter-finals by France and then also lost to Australia in the Plate final in Dubai.
And coach Treu admits Afrika will provide a much needed spark that was lacking in Dubai. “Cecil’s return will make a difference. We are a better team than what the results have shown thus far and it is disappointing that the hard work we are putting in doesn’t get justified on the pitch,” Treu told the Beeld newspaper.
Treu also indicated he could pick speedsters MJ Mentz and Cornal Hendricks for this week’s event. Both helped the Dubai Samurai team win in the semi-professional event in Dubai over the weekend.
The Blitzbokke will also get an early chance to make amends for their loss to Australia when the two Southern Hemisphere rivals clash again on Friday in the pool stage. The South Africans were drawn in Pool C with Australia, Canada and Kenya.
The World Series Standings after Round 2:
1. Fiji 39 points
2. England 32
3. South Africa, New Zealand, France 29
6. Australia 28
7. Argentina, Wales 23
The pool draw for the Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens is:
Pool A
England, Argentina, USA, Samoa
Pool B
France, New Zealand, Scotland, Morocco
Pool C
South Africa, Australia, Canada, Kenya
Pool D
Fiji, Wales, Portugal, Zimbabwe
They looked REALLY crap against the Frogs.
“The Blitzbokke will also get an early chance to make amends for their loss to Australia when the two Southern Hemisphere rivals clash again on Friday in the pool stage.”
Who gives a toss about the pool stages?
We beat NZ in the pool stages on Friday and then conspired to lose to the European powerhouse of 7’s the French inj the Cup Quarter Final!
If we won every pool game by 100 points and then go on to lose the next game it all counts for FA.
Consistency gentlemen, consistency.
Don’t dissapoint me at the weekend.
The flights and tickets etc have cost enough, without the loss in earnings. Vark I may have to look for my England jersey.
Oh, by the way, myself and a couple of mates are thinking of a long weekend to London in March for the England – Ireland 6N game. Anyone interested?
Victor Matfield will work with Bulls as a consultant in the lineouts during the S15, as well as working for SuperSport.
Wakey, wakey gbs, this is mostly a Bull site and no mention of this in a thread anywhere.
Anyhow I think it is brilliant news. We could use Matfield as a lineout coach for the Boks.
Good news to hear that Cecil Afrika will be back for Blitzbokke this week.
Sure has been missed.
Just hope we give a better performance at home than we did in Dubai.
3 @ Puma:
This is NOT mostly a Bulls site!
We have a strong contingent of Bulls bloggers here on R-T (and good for us supporting our team so well)… and it so happens that I support the Bulls… but we carry ALL South African news on an equal footing and with the same verve.
We have recently acquired and appointed more and more Authors who are NOT Bulls supporters. The distribution list of Active Authors is actually anything but just Bulls orientated.
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