Defending champions Maties have been hard at work preparing for Varsity Sevens tournament in Camps Bay at the end of the month.
The Maroon Machine took the inaugural title last year, and have been training as a squad since the beginning of October in a bid to retain their crown.
Coach Ian Campbell-McGeachy, who took charge of the SA Students Sevens team at the World Student Games in Russia earlier this year, believes that he has some exciting talents at his disposal this year with half of last year’s victorious squad returning.
Having first got together at the start of October, Maties entered into a local WP Sevens club league which gave Campbell-McGeachy a chance to look at some new players.
He told varsitysportssa.co.za: “We didn’t do very well but we were not at full strength so it was great to be able to take a look at some of the new guys coming through under pressure.”
That was followed by training matches against the national Sevens team along with UCT and UWC which the Maties coach believes was an invaluable exercise.
“Obviously playing against the Blitzbokke is the most pressure you will find so it was a great experience. We did quite well, although we did not win any of the chukkas we scored some good tries and our defence held up quite well as well,” he said.
Campbell-McGeachy knows that his side face some stiff competition this year if they are to retain their title, with a number of teams able to challenge them.
“Pukke have also been playing in a local league so they will be well prepared, and Shimlas did quite well last year so we will have to watch them closely, we know it is going to be very tough,” he said.
Although there are a few from last year’s team that are training with the Maties Varsity Cup squad, Campbell-McGeachy is excited to see what the new faces have to offer along with stalwarts such as Josh Bassingthwaite and Stefan de Villiers.
