Tuks’s 7’s team can cause a upset at the Varsity tournament
The Tuks 7's rugby team believes they can win the Varsity 7's tournament this year.
Purely judging by their performance at the USSA Tournament, the TuksRugby7’s team cannot be tipped to be one of the favourites for Friday’s Varsity Sevens Tournament in Durban.
But then again statistics and results are not always an accurate reflection of what happened out on the field. It tends to be far too clinical. The TuksRugby7’s could just turn out to be the team to spoil the fun for the Tournament favourites.
Coach Andries Kruger honestly believe that if it were not for two mistakes his players made at crucial times the results at the USSA Tournament might have played out differently.
“We lost 12-7 to Maties and 12-10 to UCT. I am of the opinion that we played the better rugby, but in both these games. But there was that one moment of lapsed concentration that led to the winning try. It is something we have been working on to improve,” he explained.
The Varsity Sevens Tournament is arguably one of the toughest in South Africa. On the first day, each team will play five games and on the second day four games. The semi-finals and final is on day three which equates to 11 games. In most international tournaments teams will play only six games over two days.
Kruger said part of the team’s preparation included a lot of endurance training to ensure that the players are capable of being competitive for three days.
He is also of the opinion that for any team to have a realistic chance to win they need true speedsters.
“Dewald Naude who played wing for Tuks in the Varsity Cup is one of the players we will be relying on to score tries. He might not be one of the fastest players but he makes up with tactical savvy for what he lacks in speed. In Hanco Sipsma we have a real speedster who also could be a key-player. Once he got the ball in hand, it takes some doing to stop him. But because he is still a newcomer to sevens rugby he tends at times to doubt his abilities. However, I am sure he will improve as he gains more match experience,” said Kruger.
WJ Strydom who played for the Blitz Boks from 2012 to 2014 brings a lot of experience to the Tuks team.
The TuksRugby7’s team finished fourth last year in the Varsity Sevens Tournament and was second in 2015.
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