Treu praises Sevens charges
10 Dec 2007
Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu says he is pleased with the progress his young side have made.
This, despite consecutive semi-final defeats, in Dubai and George (21-12 loss to Fiji).
“I think the team can be happy about being among the top three on the IRB rankings list after two tournaments,” Treu told Die Burger.
“We lost but we were not annihilated. Of course the lads are not happy, because we had a good chance of winning both the first two tournaments.
“We lost to New Zealand in the Dubai semi-finals. Then Fiji beat us in the semi-finals in George. But they are the two best Sevens teams in the world at present and I do not think we were embarrassed.”
“If you look at the countries that started building their teams two years ago, and you look at where we are now, there are many positives we can take from these two tournaments,” he added.
“The continuity we have now will certainly help us during the rest of the season.”
The Sevens Boks returned to their Stellenbosch base where they are in the process of preparing for the next leg of the series in Wellington, New Zealand.
“The guys will simply have to learn how to react in match situations; especially in a match such as the one against Fiji,” Treu said.
“We must learn how to handle pressure in the last few seconds.”
20 Comments
10 Dec 2007, 08:48 am
Sewe drake
10 Dec 2007, 08:55 am
Give Brent Russel a Tuqiri-like sevens contract and then SA might start to win some tournaments… He can become one of the greats in sevens
10 Dec 2007, 09:55 am
Fiji yes, but the AB’s team is also a young inexperienced team if I’m not mistaken…???
Excuses, excuses… Start winning Mr. Treu!!!
10 Dec 2007, 10:20 am
yeah start winning, what i saw on the weekend was alot of mistakes that were just not been made by the NZ side.
we coul dhave easily won both those semi playoff games.
10 Dec 2007, 10:25 am
2# Russel for sevens, yes!!!
10 Dec 2007, 10:41 am
Young side..also a fairly small side.
I know the whole size debate gets boring but I was struck by the difference in size generally between our guys and the Fijians in that semi. They used to say that the small quick guy will beat the heavier guy eventually in this format..
but what about when the big guy is as quick if not quicker?
Admittedly its a problem all their opponents face and clearly the Kiwis have got their balance between size/speed/skill just right. We’ve got a long way to go it seems but yes there is talent there. Juries is highly talented
10 Dec 2007, 10:52 am
Marino, I agree with you. You can “motion the ocean” as much as you like, but a “big boat” is an asset in any form of contact rugby. If you have two guys who differ in size, but are similar in speed, you’ll have a situation where the smaller guy will be expending more energy trying to defend against the bigger guy.
this will sap the strength out of the legs of the smaller guys and create gaps. its not “size’ism” is simple physics.
having said that, anybody have an opinion on Luke Watson for the seven’s team?
10 Dec 2007, 11:26 am
Cousin,
You’re mistaken. The Kiwi 7′s team have been together for the past 2 years. Chester and Treu have had to build teams at the start of every season and then still lose players to Super rugga as the season progresses.
In contrast Kiwi’s have a contracted 7′s team which is kept consistent. This is the first season where SA Rugby Admin have started putting out 7′s contract’s which can compare to Super Rugga contracts … its only now that SA Rugby Admin have started placing a premium on 7′s.
10 Dec 2007, 11:48 am
Well for the first time our sevens side can compete on an equal footing with new zealand who for years have been contracting their 7′s players while treu has had to rebuild with a new squad of players every year. Fiji on the other hand seem to rebuild their side from scratch every year and are still in the running for the world title imagine how good they would be if they had the finances of a nz or sa.
Dont think the difference between sa and fiji in the semi-final was size just that fiji made less errors and controlled possession better which comes from 7′s experience. Alot of the sa guys wont have played alot of sevens prior to joining the bok squad where as the fiji and new zealand sides play alot of it at the lower level.
10 Dec 2007, 12:38 pm
bluebarb,
Agree Luke Watson are surely a option, even as captain as well, he has all the attributes to become a world class 7 player…
10 Dec 2007, 13:29 pm
lets be realistic you shouldnt need to keep a 7′s team together for 10yrs before you see results. its a very simple game and any coach worth his salt should be successful with these bok players after having them together for a few weeks
10 Dec 2007, 15:37 pm
Is that True Paul?
Personally I’m not that comfortable with being in the Top 5. I saw the Fiji game and there was a crucial knock-on at a very critical stage of the game.
Dont know the player but his ” hare was gevleg”
Which takes me to Demas with his dreadlocks or whatever. Please have this removed. Follow John Mametsa’s example.
Let’s focus less on image and let’s do the business on the park.
10 Dec 2007, 16:01 pm
They lost, plain and simple.
10 Dec 2007, 16:18 pm
Find players who are prepared to do the unpopular work called DEFENCE!!
It is all very well looking good on attack, but get rid of Demas if he does not have the stomach to give 100% to tackling.
There are others as well!!
10 Dec 2007, 16:45 pm
Brent Russell and Stephan Basson please. Natch 7′s boykie’s.
10 Dec 2007, 16:54 pm
Oh and NZ haven’t been together for 2 years. Last series was their 1st together and for the George tournamnent a handful of their key players were out of action.
10 Dec 2007, 19:56 pm
Mr Treu has problems with the timing og sending in replacements. Whenever he makes changes, there is no continuity with the 1st half performance. He needs to delay when necessary and not make changes for the sake of making them. Read the game Mr Treu!!!
10 Dec 2007, 21:18 pm
NZ team was a VERY young and inexperienced side – they have been together for one year, but many were out at George.
SA defence was ****!! If our players are not prepared to get themselves into a position to tackle (and actually make the tackle) then maybe they should not have long term contratcs (or maybe there should be an element of match fees about their pay, so that if they are dropped, it will hurt their pockets). The defence I saw was shocking against Scotland – complete disinterest.
10 Dec 2007, 23:34 pm
Bad attitude, Im sorry, I is it that our coaches can be pleased with underachieving and playing badly??
There is no reason why we should be consistently losing against the likes of NZ, Fiji, samoa.
Im also talking about the previous seasons. SA have the depth of players that should really nearly win the thing, if not win it. If you look at the NZ team, it is very very average. The players are nothing compared to SA, Fiji. None of those players can even get into the provincial sides, they are slow, although skillful and lack any X factor. But yet they win almost every tournament and every bloody series.
I think the main problem is the size and build of our boys,(and lets hope that they are not the future of our 15′s springboks), they are way to small and not strong enough unfortunately which is why others manage to score so easily. We lose possession at ruck time so often by getting blown off the ball, its not funny. At least 80% of the team are blacks, they are fast ,skillful, filled with passion and pride, but they are simply too small. I hope Treu will learn from the most successful sides, fiji and NZ to try and pick big skillful guys instead of quick little stick thin guys. This will only result in one thing, and that is less blacks and more whites in the team. Transformation may need to be sacrificed for winning.
11 Dec 2007, 03:42 am
#19
Kenya went will,and they wernt the biggest guys on the field.
Is very very average better than very average?
Or is very very average just below yeah not to bad.
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