IRB Seven’s Player of the Year, Cecil Afrika will lead the Blitzbokke in the Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens in Port Elizabeth on Friday. After suffering an injury at the Gold Coast Tournament and as a result missing out in Dubai, Afrika will return to play in front of his home crowd as coach Paul Treu made three changes for the match.

Afrika is an asset to the Blitzbokke, bringing some individual shine an unpredictability to a team that has on the most part, failed to be consistent. The unfortunate players to have been dropped from the squad are Renfred Dazel, Robert Ebersohn and William Small-Smith. While Ebersohn will be returning to the Cheetahs for pre-season trailing, Small-Smith, one of the few stars in Dubai has been unexpectedly and without explanation excluded.

Joining Afrika are Steven Hunt and Bernardo Botha. Botha, who missed a number of crucial tackles in Dubai, can consider himself lucky to have been included.

Springbok Sevens captain Kyle Brown said the prospects of playing at home in the new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will be a huge motivating factor for the team. He also added that “We did not play to our full potential in either of the previous two tournaments and will be looking to rectify the small mistakes and play to the standards that we have set for ourselves.”

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Pat Lambie, Schalk Burger and Bismarck du Plessis

On Thursday night, Gold Reef City hosted the 2011 SA Rugby Awards and here are some of the winners of the night.

Springbok flank and Western Province captain Schalk Burger won the award for SA Player of the Year for the second time, going up against fellow Springbok and Shark’s player Pat Lambie who did not walk away empty handed. The 21-year-old was named the Absa Young Player of the Year.

A historical Currie Cup victory for the Golden Lions saw them unsurprisingly winning three titles during the ceremony that included Absa Team of the Year for the squad,  Absa Coach of the Year for John Mitchell and Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year for their captain Josh Strauss.

Other winners included Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis for The SARPA Players’ Player of the Year Award and Springbok Sevens flyer Sibusiso Sithole for The Supersport Try of the Year for his tournament-winning score in the final of the Edinburgh Sevens against Australia. Cecil Afrika, who was recently named the World Sevens Player of the Year walked away with the award for Springbok Sevens Player of the Year.

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) also paid tribute to two recently retired Springbok legends. Both John Smit, who has already left the country to take up a contract with English club Saracens, and Victor Matfield played their last Test for the national team in the quarter-finals at the Rugby World Cup.

Commenting on the past year of rugby, Oregan Hoskins, President of SARU said “Onfield success of our national and provincial teams will always be of paramount importance, but I believe we have enjoyed a special year in the history of our rugby – perhaps a watershed year.”

source: SA Rugby

The Sevens Springboks won their second IRB Sevens World Series title of the year on Sunday when they came from behind to beat Fiji 24 – 14 in the Final of the London leg of the competition.

The other highlight of the day’s drama at Twickenham, was the fact that despite defeat in the semifinal, Gordon Tietjens’ New Zealand side had plenty of reason to celebrate – having clinched their ninth World Series title after their quarterfinal victory against Argentina.

But the South Africans were not going to allow the Kiwis to steal their spot in the limelight.

It was one of the most remarkable come-from-behind wins in a Final this season – as the Springboks trailed 0-14 after just over three minutes.

However, they changed their strategy and not only got a stranglehold on the game, but throttled the life out of the Fijians with one of the most tactically astute games produced this season.

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The International Rugby Board’s (IRB) Sevens tournament took place at Outeniqua Park in George, but came into the spotlight for the wrong reasons due to the quality of refereeing.

The 12 000 spectators often vented their feelings about forward passes that weren’t picked up, as well as infringements at the breakdown.

In South Africa’s quarterfinal against Fiji, for example, Portuguese referee Rohan Hoffman missed a number of infringements in the build-up to one of the tries against the Springboks.

While coach Paul Treu believes his players had more than enough chances to win the game, he is concerned about some of the referees.

“I think referees will be among our biggest challenges going forward. I don’t criticise them at all, but rather the system as a bunch of young guys are being thrown in at the deep-end,” said Treu.

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South Africa’s Springbok Sevens team lost to England in the Plate final of the Emirates Airline George Sevens tournament in a game they would rather forget, ending the tournament on a low note.

The Bok Sevens side lost their first ever final of any sort to the English in the World Series history, but had the embarrassment of doing it in front of an extremely disappointed crowd to finish the same way they did at the Dubai Sevens.

Last week the Boks lost to Australia in the Plate final, and in front of a partisan crowd in George they were again out of sorts as England dismantled them relying on turnovers and speed to beat the World Series champs.

After this loss, the Blitsboks will need to find an answer to their own woes, after being exposed for a lack of speed and flair in both the first two tournaments thus far in the series.

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Sevens rugby, as well as golf will appear at the 2016 Olympic Games after an executive board vote on Thursday  by the International Olympic Committee.

The decision, taken by secret ballot, is not binding as it has to be rubber-stamped by the entire IOC membership in a vote in Copenhagen in October – if successful it would take the amount of sports to 28.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) said in a statement on Thursday it is “delighted” that the IOC Executive Board has recommended Sevens as one of two sports for inclusion in the Olympic Games.

Bernard Lapasset, President of the IRB, said: “We would like to thank the IOC Executive Board for selecting Sevens from what are seven strong and diverse sports.

“We recognise the significance of this milestone in our campaign but are also mindful that the ultimate decision rests with the IOC members when they meet in Copenhagen on October 9.

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Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu have saluted his team and praised their overall performance in spite of losing 19 – 20 to Fiji in the final of the Edinburgh leg of the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series.

The Bok Sevens team, who were crowned IRB World Seven Series Champions on Saturday, conceded four tries in the Cup Final – after Ryno Benjamin, Gio Aplon and Renfred Dazel all crossed the try-line. Mzwandile Stick and Vuyo Zangqa each kicked a conversion for the Springboks Sevens team, but their efforts was not enough to deny Fiji the Edinburgh Cup victory.

Treu’s side finish the season with 132 points, ahead of Fiji (102), England (98), New Zealand (88), Argentina (68) and Kenya (64) in sixth position on the log.

“It’s a bit disappointing to end the season like this, but I told the guys that we have been the most consistent team of the year. We have waited for 10 years to win the IRB World Sevens Series so we might as well enjoy this,” said Treu.

“We are the best team in the world and now we are going back to South Africa as the champions of the world. Let’s not forget that feeling because it does not happen every day.

“There’s been some great moments this season and what the guys have achieved will go down in eternity.

“I would also like to thank all our great supporters in South Africa and then also a huge thanks to SA Rugby for their support.”

Earlier on Sunday, the Springboks Sevens side needed a sudden death extra time score by Aplon to beat hosts Scotland 26-21 to reach the Final.

Bok Sevens skipper Stick held his nerve to convert Ryno Benjamin’s try in the dying seconds of the match to fight back and level the score at the death after the Scots built a lead through Sean Lamont’s brace of tries and Greig Laidlaw’s score. Zangqa and Dazel were the other try-scorers for the new IRB Sevens World Series champions.

Treu’s Springbok Sevens side easily defeated Australia in their quarterfinal clash on Sunday with Kyle Brown, Frankie Horne and Zangqa all scoring tries for the South Africans.

The newly crowned IRB Sevens World Champions arrives in Cape Town on Tuesday, June 2 June – at 16.30 at the Cape Town International Airport.

Source: rugby365.com

Pic: planetrugby.com