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SA touch on new sevens strategy
By DUNCAN JOHNSTONE - Rugbyheaven Last updated 10:48 04/02/2010
Struggling World Series champions South Africa are adopting tactics from another sport to try to lift themselves out of their rut at the Wellington sevens tournament, where they face hosts New Zealand in Friday night's feature match.
South Africa, who claimed their first IRB world series crown last year have had a horror start to their new campaign, languishing in eighth place after two rounds with just 16 points, 32 less than front runners New Zealand.
They come to the Cake Tin and find themselves in a difficult pool with the Kiwis, Wales and Niue.
Experienced and innovative South African coach Paul Treu has turned to a touch rugby expert to try to inject something new into his squad, believing the other abbreviated form of the game can help the sevens stars.
Jason Stanton has guided Australia to three consecutive world touch titles and knows a thing or two about sevens as well after helping the Aussie women to the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens title in Dubai last year.
Looking to break out of a slump that has seen them eliminated in the quarter-finals of the last two tournament, the South Africans have brought Stanton on board for the next four tournaments, hoping to get back into the title race.
"I think it is important for us to keep bringing quality people into our system," Treu told IRB.com on the eve of the Wellington event.
"Jason is a quality coach and he will just bring something else to our set up, just to analyse the opposition teams and to see what their weaknesses and strengths are.
"You would like to get a different voice in the team and Jason is coming from a very successful background with the touch rugby and the World Cup win in Dubai.
"I think if you can get into that bit of success and just what made you successful in the first place and hopefully that is what Jason is going to bring over the next four tournaments. We are going to start looking at the analysis and come up with a few ideas of how we are going to outsmart the other teams."
Treu is adamant there are many similarities between sevens and touch.
"I think it is the way that they manipulate space and just the way that they play with the defenders. That is what we have tried to implement in our game over the last two years and just for the players to pick up indicators in the defenders and how to manipulate space and what is on and what is not on, how you can take your chances.
"In touch rugby you must remember they are allowed six touches and then they must score, so you have to be clever, you have to play smart, you almost have to think like one or two steps in advance and see how other players are going to work out. You have to think on your feet so I think it is an ideal opportunity for us to tap into that resource and to get someone of Jason's calibre into the set up so hopefully we are going to learn a lot."
South Africa play New Zealand in the final match of what promises to be another action-packed opening day on Friday.
With World Cup winners Wales also in the pool, the New Zealand v South Africa match will hugely influential to the makeup of Saturday's quarter-finals. One of the teams is likely to be facing elimination, making for a cut-throat end to the first day's play.
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