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.

“It is frustrating for a professional team to put in so much work and prepare all over the world, but the referees only pitch up two days before the tournament to officiate for world class players and teams.

“You feel sorry for them because young referees are expected to make the correct decisions in venues such as Dubai with 40 000 spectators and a TV audience of 200 million people. We’d like to see them get to a more professional level.”

South African referees boss André Watson said that he understood Treu’s frustrations, but added that the tournaments are used by the IRB to develop referees.

“There have to be opportunities for young referees to be exposed to the pressure of tours and international tournaments. Craig Joubert, Paddy O’Brien (IRB referees boss) and myself started there,” said Watson.

As far as the tournaments in Dubai and George are concerned, all the referees apart from Japan’s Taizo Hirabayashi officiated in international tournaments for the first time.

It was only the Japanese official that punished basic infringements such as crooked feeds at the scrums.

Watson believes that his colleagues will be more experienced after these two tournaments and that they will be sharper in the future.

Freek Burger, who was Watson’s predecessor at SA Rugby and a proven coach of referees, believes attention to a technical point such as the positioning of referees can help solve a lot of frustrations.

“The golden rule is to stay in line with the ball. But in an effort not to fall behind, the referees run so far ahead that it’s impossible to judge whether a pass was forward or not,” said Burger.

Source: supersport.co.za

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.

There were high expectations, but it was England who were way more clinical, even though they had less possession and made their presence felt when they got the ball.

It started when Dan Norton opened the scoring for England, and then gave the perfect pass to Christian Wade after the English had stolen a South African lineout to extend the flyer’s lead as the top points scorer at this year’s tournament.

The Boks came out much better in the second half, but their ability to lose ball at crucial times in possession cost them once again, as Marius Schoeman was rushed into a pass that fell into no-man’s land and Wade picked up, running 60 metres before giving Isoa Damu the honour of his name on the scoresheet.

Shaun Venter eventually added a consolation try on the stroke of full-time, but even though they finished on a high note, the Boks will leave the tournament thinking about what could have been and no doubt how difficult the task is of defending their IRB World Series title.

* Earlier the Springboks scraped home against Samoa 10-7 in a scrappy Plate semifinal after tries by Deon Helberg and Mzwandile Stick sealed it for them The Boks were out of the Cup competition early in the day’s play as they relinquished their second title in as many weeks when they lost to Fiji in the quarterfinal .

The Blitsbokke went down 22-17 in a game they will feel they should have won, much to the disappointment of the partisan home crowd who turned up in their droves to support the IRB World Series champions.

But on a day where crucial decisions would play a vital difference in the game, the Boks will feel aggrieved at a decision that proved to be the difference between the two sides on the scoreboard.

With Fiji on attack, Emosi Vucago was tackled on the floor, and passed the ball back to Setefano Cakau. The ball hit Cakau’s chest and fell forward, and Vucago picking the ball up in an offside position, playing it on the ground and popping it up for Cakau to run through and score.

Despite the crowd’s baying and protests from their entire Springbok Sevens team, Portugese referee Rohan Hoffman allowed the try.

The defeat was the fourth in a row by Fiji over South Africa, and the Boks will be desperate to break their hoodoo that Fiji have over them at the moment

Scorers
South Africa – Try: Shaun Venter. Conversion: Cecil Afrika

England: Tries: Dan Norton, Christian Wade, Isoa Damu. Conversions: Ben Gollings (3)

Source + Pic: supersport.co.za

Argentina beat England 19-14 to take the Cup, their first success since 2004 when they also won in California.

SA and England lead the way with 60 points and they are 12 points clear of defending Series champions New Zealand.

South Africa lost a 12-0 lead against England and Paul Treu (SA coach) was understandably disappointed afterwards: “We spoke long and hard after conceding a good lead last week against Kenya in Wellington, and it was very disappointing to do so again against England at Petco Park.”

“We have worked extremely hard to get us into good positions in both competitions and the reality is that we will have to show much more composure in the big games if we want to challenge for the Series title,” explained Treu.

The team returns home on Wednesday and have just over a week to prepare for the Rugby World Cup which takes place early next month in Dubai. They leave next Friday for the desert city.

Injury has robbed the team of the experienced duo of Marius Schoeman and Neil Powell. Stick, stand-in captain in place of the unavailable Powell, sustained a hamstring injury on the first day in Wellington and missed San Diego as a result.

Good news for SA though is that both Schoeman and Powell have recovered from their hand injuries and will be ready for selection. Stick however, faces a race against time to regain full fitness.

The next tournament on the Series calendar is the popular Hong Kong event from 27 – 29 March and this will be followed a week later by the Adelaide Sevens, where South Africa are the defending champions.

Source: sarugby.co.za

Pic: irb.com

The Springbok Sevens collected eight valuable points for their effort, enough to keep them on top of the IRB World Sevens Series log with 48 points after three tournaments. England joined New Zealand in second spot with 44 point after their success in the Cup final.

England beat New Zealand 19-17 in a thrilling final to capture their first Wellington Sevens title.

South Africa, who lost to Kenya in the pool stages and New Zealand in Cup quarter-final, made a bright start when Frankie Horne collected a loose pass from Wales to run straight through (7-0). Wales hit back a minute later through a try by Craig Hill (7-5). Lee Williams then beat the cover defence to score Wales’ second try (12-7).

After the restart Vuyo Zangqa dotted down in the corner after a patient build-up from a set-piece to level the scores at 12-all. South Africa then produced probably their best second half performance of the tournament, keeping possession and displaying clinical finishing when needed. Renfred Dazel and Paul Delport scored in quick succession to secure the Plate for the Springbok Sevens.

Next week the teams will compete for the USA title in San Diego.

Source + Pic: sarugby.co.za

Ryno Benjamin ran in the first and the last try. Gio Aplan and Renford Dazel added to the four try victory by scoring one each. Renford Dazel and Mzwandile Stick each converted one try.

The tournament is being played at the Westpac Stadium, in Wellington, in fair weather.

In their second game the Springbok Sevens beat Tonga 22-5 after leading 17-5 at the break.

Renford Dazel, Paul Delport, Howard Noble and Philip Snyman each scored a try, while Renford Dazel was successful with a conversion.

South Africa plays Kenya in the last match of the Pool stage.

Source + Pic: sarugby.co.za

If Robert Ebersohn, who first represented South Africa with his talented twin brother, Sias (a flyhalf) at under-19 level, were to receive a call from Springbok Rugby Coach Peter de Villiers tomorrow asking him to join the ’Boks, he would choose to remain with the SA Sevens Team.

This talented young Free State centre, who was recently named the SA Young Player of the Year, was also crowned best player of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens Tournament in George on Saturday.

Not only was he one of the leading try scorers, but also defended like a man possessed, and on numerous occasions won turn over ball for his team.

The 19-year old took the decision not to make himself available for Super 14 rugby next year, and rather remain on the sevens circuit for another year, because he felt this would be best for his rugby career.

The Springbok coach, who attended the Sevens Tournament in George, said if he felt that if a player was good and mature enough, he wouldn’t hesitate to call him up from the Sevens side to the Springboks.

Ebersohn still dreams of one day becoming a Springbok, but feels Sevens is probably the best way for a young player to find his feet at an international level.

“It’s obviously very easy to say that I have made the right decision now, but if we had not done as well in these two tournaments, some people would have said I had made the wrong decision, but I believe my time will come,” Ebersohn explained.

He reckons he couldn’t have asked for a better coach than Paul Treu.

“Paul really is an excellent coach. I don’t think there is a better foundation for one’s career than the Sevens Team.

“Paul teaches us so much — not only as player, but also as person. He really is someone to look up to. We work very hard and the team’s success should be attributed to him. But the other members of the management team also deserve a lot of credit,” said Ebersohn.

Ebersohn reckons the Player of the Tournament award in George could have easily gone to anyone in the team and he attributes the tries he scored to the hard work of his teammates.

Source:

supersport.co.za

Pic: sarugby.com

“It was the first time South Africa had won the IRB tournament at home and also the first time that they had put two successive wins together. The Springboks beat England in Dubai last weekend.

It was a victory against all the odds, with South Africa weakened by the Super 14 call-ups of a number of stalwarts like Schalk van der Merwe, Fabian Juries, Jonothan Mokueana and the non-availability of Stefan Basson and the injured Marius Schoeman and captain Neil Powell.

Built on a solid defence and an unbelievable camaraderie and team spirit, the relatively inexperienced Springboks, lighter than their opponents in virtually every match defied all the odds — and are now clear leaders in the eight-tournament series.

Mzwandile Stick, who led the team in the absence of the injured Powell, was again outstanding in the final and scored the try that put the Boks ahead with less than two minutes remaining.

But hats off to every one of the players in this and the Dubai tournaments.

Robert Ebersohn received the Player of the Tournament award on saturday, but it might just as well have gone to any of Frankie Horn, Mpho Mbyozo, Stick or Renfred Dazel.

New Zealand started off in a frenzy after kicking off and scored the first try through their captain DJ Forbes after three minutes following huge pressure on the Boks line (7-0).

The Kiwis, with their bigger players, initially played confrontational rugby in an effort to neutralise the Boks’ speed and to draw them into the breakdowns. They often made contact with the Springboks forced uncharacteristically to kick to relieve pressure.

With two and a half minutes of the first half’s 10 minutes remaining Gio Aplon broke the line with good stepping and Dazel won the 40 metres race against the pursuing New Zealanders to score far out (7-5).

It was a tactical battle with speed and aggression thrown into it, although it wasn’t always the free-running stuff wanted by so many.

The tension before the biggest Sevens crowd in South African history was nevertheless unbearable and a near-try by the Boks, preceded by a knock-on, gave the Kiwis some reprieve as the home side hammered their goal line.

But the Springboks who had climbed into the rucks got that elusive tighthead from the ensuing scrum, , and Stick went over from a good break, converted and put the Boks 12-7 up with less than two minutes to play. A drop from Robert Ebersohn was just wide, and with less than 50 seconds New Zealand had it all to do but couldn’t.

** England won the Plate final against a well-coached and gutsy Portugal, who showed great improvement from last year despite a rather average second day following their three wins to head their pool on Friday.

Turnover-mistakes by Portugal helped England to a deserved 24-7 win.

** In the Bowl final an average France side, after a vastly better tournament than Dubai, outscored a poor semblance of an Australian national team 21-12. Australia have a young team and a new coach, but are not doing justice to their country’s rugby or the IRB Sevens World Series with their below-par performances.

** In the Shield final Zimbabwe annihilated a woeful and disinterested Scotland 26-0. This was Zimbabwe’s third big win over Scotland in the two 2008/09 tournaments to date and left the Scots with only three wins from 11 matches so far.“

Source: sarugby.co.za