The Varsity Sevens tournament – being held at Villager FC in Cape Town – will have some keen spectators in the shape of BlitzBoks coach Neil Powell and Paul Delport of the SA Sevens Academy as the pair look for the future Sevens stars.
Powell will grace the event with his presence on either the Saturday or the Sunday before returning to watch the semifinals and final with the entire Blitzboks squad – all of whom are very excited about attending the tournament.
“It is great for the BlitzBoks that Varsity Sevens has returned and we, as a squad, look forward to being there and supporting the teams in the semifinals and the final. Personally, I will be there on either the Saturday or Sunday as well.
“A tournament like this serves as a great platform for the students to show their talent and also allows us to scout that talent, especially players who focus solely on playing Sevens. Sometimes its difficult to see the guys who play the 15-man format and gauge how well they will do in the Sevens format, so this is a platform for us to scout them,” he told varsitysportssa.com.
Powell admits that he will be keeping a key eye on all the players and hopes there will be a few players who catches his eye as he looks toward the future. Players who catches his eye will be invited to training camps, and if they show promise there, will be invited to join the Academy in the hopes of one day being able to run out for the senior Sevens side.
“It is important to go to a tournament like this with an open mind instead of a list of names as talent can pop up from anywhere. There is usually one or two players who catches you by surprise – players who you have not heard about before – so we, Paul [Delport] and I are really keen on being there and seeing the talent coming from university level.
“The plan is to scout a few guys who will be invited to training camps and then, if we see potential in them, we will look to include them in the Academy in 2016. We are definitely looking for players who we think can progress from the Academy and into the senior team in the near future,” he added.
The BlitzBoks, who are based in Stellenbosch, have hard at work preparing for the upcoming Glasgow leg of the World Sevens Series where they as will face their toughest challenge in pursuit of being crowned World Sevens Series champions.
The World Sevens Series leaders have been drawn alongside third-placed New Zealand, Samoa and Kenya in Pool B and victory in Scotland will see them head into the final leg – in London – with a nice advantage.
“It is definitely going to be a tough pool – and tournament – but if you want to be the best in the world, you need to beat everybody. The key to our success will be to remain focused on our processes and to make sure we do the right things on the field. If we can do that, the result will take care of itself.
“Obviously our ultimate goal is to win the Series but we can’t let that get in the way of sticking to our plans in Glasgow. We know we have a very tough pool but our focus is on that first game on Day One, regardless of who the opposition is.
“It will take a massive effort from us to win the Glasgow leg but if we are able to – especially seeing that we have New Zealand in our pool and will cross paths with Fiji or Scotland in the cross pools – then we will have a nice advantage heading into the final leg in London,” he stated.
