UP-Tuks coach Marinus van der Watt said his team will not be going to Cape Town to make up the numbers in this year’s Varsity Sevens tournament.
The Pretoria side finished third in the last edition in Camps Bay in 2013 and will be looking to go all the way this year in search of what will be their maiden title.
“For sure we want to win it. Are we going down to go look at the mountain? We are going for the title obviously,” Van der Watt told varsitysportssa.com .
“As you know in Sevens anything can happen. For us it is about competing in every game and if the end result is winning the tournament it will be fantastic. We are definitely not going there for a holiday. If that is the case I will rather give the guys off than to fly to Cape Town.”
Although he is confident about his team’s chances, Van der Watt admits that preparations have not been going according to plan as a number of his players have 15-man commitments in other tournaments.
“It has been tough as a lot of my guys are either at the Vodacom Cup or they still playing before we leave in a league game for the university. It has not been that great, but we have to adapt and be ready for the tournament,” he said.
Varsity Cup stars Jermaine Kleinsmith, Dewald Human and Emile Temperman will all be at Van der Watt’s disposal for the three-day tournament and believes the quality those players bring to the squad will put them in good stead.
“Dewald was at the Sevens academy and was part of the team that toured Kenya and he has obviously got some more experience.
“Overall I got some good guys who have been playing Sevens for a while. We have been building a bit of squad so hopefully we will be sorted,” the coach added.
Van der Watt, who also previously coached the Blue Bulls Sevens team, said picking out UP-Tuks’ main competition for the title is a tough call to make as he believes that every team will be at their best.
“Maties, who we played in the final of the USSA Championships, will be strong. UJ is going to be strong because they got a good Sevens culture. Pukke have a very professional setup with guys that are specialising in Sevens, so they will be a very strong team and then UWC who are always competitive.
“Kovsies did exceptionally well last time when they beat us in the semifinal. There is no easy games in this competition,” Van der Watt added.
The tournament will take place at Villager F.C. in Claremont on April 25-27 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport 210.
