Bryan Habana
Schalk Brits
Cornal Hendricks
Cheslin Kolbe
Warren Whiteley
Springboks Bryan Habana and Schalk Brits have been included in the South African sevens rugby squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Regular Blitzbokke coach Neill Powell will take charge of the squad, which features several household names in South African rugby.
Apart from Habana and Brits, experienced sevens campaigner Cornal Hendricks was also included. He made his Springbok debut in the 15-man code against the World XV last week.
Sport24
Super Rugby players, Cheslin Kolbe (Stormers) and Warren Whiteley (Lions), are also in the squad while the rest are regular customers for the Blitzbokke on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit.
The Commonwealth Games take place from 23 July to 3 August.
SA Sevens squad: Chris Dry, Schalk Brits, Frankie Horne, Kyle Brown, Branco du Preez, Cheslin Kolbe, Justin Geduld, Cecil Afrika, Bryan Habana, Seabelo Senatla, Cornal Hendricks, Warren Whiteley
Management: Ashley Evert (Manager), Coaches: Neil Powell, Allan Temple Jones
Very interesting… does this mean more top players from the 15 man code will become available to the sevens team in the build up to the Olympics?
Habana could challenge Sonny Bill Williams to become the first rugby player to win a rugby world cup and an Olympic gold medal 🙂
1 @ robzim:
It is bound to happen that more frontline players will become involved in Sevens, for the sake of the Olympics… I would say it’s almost unavoidable.
From the top of my head, players I think should do exceptionally well in Sevens include:
S’Bura Sithole
Damian de Allende
Jan Serfontein
Lwazi Mvovo
Jaco Kriel
Willie le Roux
Jaco Reinach
Willie Britz
… to name a few…
@ grootblousmile:
Yes, indeed.. I was also thinking about Aplon, JJ Engelbrecht, Sarel Pretorius and even Kankofski .
4 @ robzim:
It seems that the Blitzbokke have concentrated on “little fast ones” in the recent past, and I believe they need to add some bulk without necessarily losing out on the speed issue.
New Zealand’s Sevens players are big buggers, so too Fiji & England’s players…
@ grootblousmile:
In terms of size, speed and strength Pierre Spies is probably in a class of his own in this country . I am just not so sure about his ball skills.
6 @ robzim:
I think he’d be a disaster, too robotic, no vision for immediate space, no 3D planning ability, no agility.
A player like Francois Hougaard will do well, a fast openside flanker with skills like Jaco Kriel will do well.
One needs some of the following – strong centres with a step and good defence (De Allende, S’Bura Sithole), creative speed merchants (Willie le Roux, Lwazi Mvovo), a couple of fast & robust players (Jaco Kriel, Willie Britz, Craig Burden, Schalk Brits), a couple of strong crash & bash backline players with distribution skills (Jan Serfontein), little genarals who read play well and can snipe (Cobus Renach, Francois Hougaard).
Sevens players need far more vision for space compared to 15’s players in general.
Now mix into that a Cecil Afrika, a Frankie Horn, a Kyle Brown, a Branco du Prezz… the players with massive Sevens experience…
With his speed,passing,sleight of hand and footwork Benji Marshall at his peak would have been a Sevens god.
When saw this earlier was thinking that guys like Willie le Roux, Francois Hougaard and Keegan Daniel could do really well at the 7s.
Not sure what criteria they used for picking the Commonwealth squad and am in two minds about the inclusion of 15 a side players, they are probably really good so should add value but on the other hand it’s hard on the 7s guys who play and travel all over the place week in and week out during the 7s season but now miss out on a Commonwealth Games and in future Olympic opportunity. I suppose you say the Commonwealth squad is there to win medals and preferably a gold one and this year the 7s squad didn’t win the Series.
Will be interesting to see. The fitnes and conditioning standards required for sevens are at another level.
@10 Bullscot
Agree with you about the fairness of the guys currently playing that code being left out for a marquees name player.
It’s not like a CC campaign where the returning Boks get preference, there it’s all a 15 man code and the senior players shouldn’t sit out because they were on national duty, but to pick a guy who plays 15 man rugby in France for the 7’s over a 7’s specialist who has been with the team and squad all year just sucks
12 @ nortierd:
That is my gut feeling too nortierd but then again life isn’t fair and I guess the Commonwealth squads want to try and maximize their chances of winning medals. As hosts Scotland have been gearing up for the 7s for a while now and have been including 15 men code guys in their squad for some of this years 7s series, guys like Richie Vernon and Mark Bennett and then Scott Wight who was a fringe flyhalf for Glasgow has now permanently moved into 7s, these 3 are all in Scotland squad for the games. Sean Lamont has been included in the Scotland Commonwealth squad as well and it sounds like it has been ages since he last played 7s. Difference between Scotland and SA though is that SA have already been way more successful at 7s and with Scotland hosting the games you could possibly argue more for them adding the 15s guys.
What is interesting to me is to see Bryan Habana in the squad, must have got a release from Toulon for the games, or does the 7s come under IRB international rules regarding player availability ie. did they have to make him available for SA to chose?
Anybody named Kriel seems to have the inside track.
@Bullscot
Question is, will some of these 15 game players really be assets at 7’s?
I know years ago when the likes of Lomu, Cullen, Campo and Joost etc played, they did both, but 7’s wasn’t even close to as specialized as it is today.
When was the last time we have seen Habana beat the defenders after intercepting? In the past no one would have laid a hand on him, so to me it means a serious loss of speed. I don’t see the worth in him all of a sudden playing 7’s.
@ Bullscot:
Toulon at it again… I’m beginning to dislike them immensely.
The ARU won’t receive any help from the
International Rugby Board (IRB) in its battle
to keep superstars like Israel Folau from
defecting to cashed-up French clubs.
IRB chief executive Brett Gosper
sympathises with the plight of the
Australian Rugby Union, which is fighting a
war on all fronts.
Domestically, the ARU finds itself with backs
to the wall in an ultra-competitive sporting
market and, at the same time, dealing with
the ever-present threat posed by European
poachers.
Folau is reportedly being targeted by French
side Toulon to become the highest-paid
player in world rugby and defect before next
year’s World Cup.
If the Wallabies’ best and most marketable
athlete was to leave, it would serve as
another major blow to the financially
strapped ARU, and would force it to rethink
its stance which prevents overseas-based
players representing Australia in Test
matches.
Sydney Morning Herald
12/06/14
@ nortierd:
Habana got an intercept vs Sarries the other day but as soon as it became clear that he wouldn’t outstrip the defence he “pulled a hammy”. And that was before the “dive”.
Rage wrote:
He he
I saw that, he is really making his name “tottie” over there.
Was surprisingly ok against the World Team though
Who is responsible for selecting this squad?
I hope not SASCOC.
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