Blitzbok coach Paul Treu heaped praise on his squad as his side finished second in the Sevens World Series, with New Zealand winning, and Fiji coming third.
The team needed to make the Cup quarter-finals in the London Sevens to secure the second spot on the final log, which was duly done on Saturday.
But even although the team lost 19-14 to England in extra time of their Cup quarterfinal and 22-5 to the USA in the Plate semi-final on Sunday, Treu was a very happy coach.
“Obviously the aim was to win the series, but a range of crippling injuries and some inconsistent performances in Dubai, Wellington and Hong Kong cost us. It was very special though to be the only team on the circuit to win three tournaments and the only one to win consecutive ones,” Treu said.
South Africa finished 5th last year and Treu attributed the improvement to the players commitment and hard work.
“We lost so many players due to injury at crucial times, but still the squad kept on working hard to achieve the results. We had our two main playmakers, Cecil Afrika and Branco du Preez available for only four tournaments this year. The fact that we used 25 players is testament to the injury problems we had.”
Eight players debuted during the current HSBC Sevens World Series.
“I am pleased for the new guys and it is building depth with regards to the future. The series was tougher than ever and for us to win three tournaments was special. I believe our season was a success,” Treu said.
The players used:
Chris Dry, Philip Snyman, Frankie Horne, Warren Whiteley, Cornal Hendricks, Kyle Brown, Stephan Dippenaar, Paul Delport, Tshotsho Mbovane, Steven Hunt, Bernado Botha, Cheslin Kolbe, Cecil Afrika, Jamba Ulengo, Pieter Engelbrecht, Brando du Preez, Ruwellyn Isbell*, Seabelo Senatla*, Justin Geduld*, Warren Whiteley*, Werner Kok*, Reuben Johannes*, Kevin Luiters* and WJ Strydom* (debutants).
Milestones of the series:
- South Africa winning three tournaments in Las Vegas, Tokyo and Glasgow
- Frankie Horne extended the South African career record for tournament to 50. They were all consecutive, another milestone.
- Cornal Hendricks finished the season as the team’s leading try scorer with 38 tries, fourth on the overall list behind Brent Russell (46), Fabian Juries (41) and Cecil Afrika (40). His 190 points was also the most by any player this season.
- Kevin Luiters, Ruwellyn Isbell, Seabelo Senatla, Justin Geduld, Warren Whiteley, Werner Kok, Reuben Johannes and WJ Strydom all made their debuts for South Africa during the series.
London Sevens results:
Final: New Zealand 47 – 12 Australia
Semi finals:
Australia 14 – 7 England
New Zealand 7 – 0 Kenya
Quarter finals:
England 19 – 14 South Africa
Australia 24 – 19 USA
Kenya 20 – 7 Fiji
New Zealand 52 – 7 Argentina
Final series standings:
1 New Zealand – 173 points
2 South Africa – 132
3 Fiji – 121
4 Samoa – 104
5 Kenya – 99
6 England – 92
7 Wales – 91
8 Australia – 89
9 France – 87
10 Argentina – 84
