Powell: How 15-a-side stars fit into Sevens set-up

In what is a rare occurrence in South Africa, the Super Rugby franchises released a host of their most high-profile players to help give the BlitzBoks the best possible chance of reaching the highest possible podium place at Rio next year.

World Cup Springboks Bryan Habana, Damian de Allende and Lwazi Mvovo are among a host of 15-a-side stars who will be in contention for places in South Africa's Olympic Sevens squad.

Add in the names of other high-profile 15-a-side players like Juan de Jongh, Warren Whiteley, Cornal Hendricks, Teboho Mohoje, Francois Hougaard, Ryan Kankowski, and Jaco Kriel and it is obvious that some unprecedented planning an negotiations have preceded the start of the new Sevens season.

South African Rugby Union CEO Jurie Roux made it clear his organisation's focus is on "the next big event in the game", the Olympics.

He revealed that the planning that culminated in the announcement of the squad this week started planning 12 months ago, with the goal of a gold medal in Rio.

Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell said there will be a lot of "rotating" of both his regular Sevens stars and the 15-a-side players contesting places throughout the World Series – which gets underway in Dubai next month and is followed closely by the Cape Town leg.

In Dubai two teams – one to compete in the World Series tournament and a Samurai team competing in the invitational tournament – will give 24 of the 35-man training squad the first opportunity to put down Olympic markers.

That is followed by Cape Town, where more players will get a run.

By then they would have used virtually all the players in their system – with the exception of a small number who are based overseas.

Those will get a run at later tournaments.

Powell said that while there is a six-week turnaround between the Cape Town leg (December 12 and 13) and Round Three in Wellington, New Zealand (January 29 and 30), the rest periods become dramatically shorter thereafter.

It is followed by tournaments in Sydney (February 6-7), Las Vegas (March 4-6), Vancouver (March 12-13), Hong Kong (April 8-10), Singapore (April 16-17), Paris (May 14-15) and London (May 21-22).

That is when Powell, because of the season being more compact, will start rotating his players more regularly and also making use of the 15-a-side players.

He also revealed that they will use the 15-a-side players in a manner that will not be too disruptive for their Super Rugby campaigns – with between two and five 15-a-side players in each tournament throughout the season.

"It would be unfair to keep selection for the Olympics open to just the Sevens players," Powell said, when asked why they have invited so many 15-a-side players.

"We have to open it up to 15-a-side players who are interested as well.

"It will also be unfair not to test players like Francois Hougaard and Bryan Habana, throughout the season."

He said the bulk of the 15-a-side players are not going to be based at the Sevens training base, the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport, all the time.

"In November we will only have about eight 15-a-side players with our squad, along with the 17 current players," Powell said, adding: "They [the 15-a-side players] will be in and out of our system – depending on their availability and the agreement that we have with the unions."

He said the 15-a-side players will add a lot of experience of playing at the highest level.

"We will need those players with BMT.

"Their also maybe different skills.

"We are probably the smallest team, in terms of our players' physical size, on the circuit. That is why we went for some taller players like Ryan Kankowski and Warren Whiteley and those players.

"One of the big aspects of the game is restarts and the ability to get the ball back.

"It will help if we can get one or two taller players."

He confirmed that the squad will be cut to 16 in the middle of June and the last four players will be cut in August before they go into a pre-Olympics training camp.

Sevens captain Kyle Brown described it as an exciting time for the whole squad.

"It is one of the most exciting times we've had in Sevens for the last 10 to 15 years, to have these high-profile players join us."

He said the key is to make sure they are adjusted to the culture in the Sevens team.

By Jan de Koning

@King365ed

@rugby365com