Treu still sees positives
Paul Treu's Bokke may have been blitzed out of the Cup competition in London on Sunday, but he found positives in his team's performances throughout the season.
Treu said he was happy with improved effort as South Africa finished second in IRB Sevens World Series
The Springbok Sevens coach, Treu, heaped praise on his squad, despite finishing behind arch rivals New Zealand yet again.
The team needed to make the Cup quarterfinals in the London leg of the IRB World Series to secure the second spot on the final log
This was done on Saturday in pool play – with wins over Australia and France – and although the team lost 14-194 to England in extra time of their Cup quarterfinal and 5-22 to the United States in the Plate semifinal on Sunday, Treu was a very happy coach.
"Obviously the aim was to win the series, but a range of crippling injuries and some inconsistent performances in Dubai, Wellington and Hong Kong cost us," Treu said.
"It was very special though to be the only team on the circuit to win three tournaments and the only one to win consecutive ones," Treu added.
South Africa finished fifth last year and Treu attributed the improvement to the players commitment and hard work.
"We lost so many players due to injury at crucial times, but still the squad kept on working hard to achieve the results.
"We had our two main playmakers, Cecil Afrika and Branco du Preez available for only four tournaments this year. The fact that we used 25 players is testament to the injury problems we had."
Eight players debuted during the current Sevens World Series.
"I am pleased for the new guys and it is building depth with regards to the future. The series was tougher than ever and for us to win three tournaments was special. I believe our season was a success," Treu said.
The player used were Chris Dry, Philip Snyman, Frankie Horne, Warren Whiteley, Cornal Hendricks, Kyle Brown, Stephan Dippenaar, Paul Delport, Tshotsho Mbovane, Steven Hunt, Bernado Botha, Cheslin Kolbe, Cecil Afrika, Jamba Ulengo, Pieter Engelbrecht, Brando du Preez, Ruwellyn Isbell*, Seabelo Senatla*, Justin Geduld*, Warren Whiteley*, Werner Kok*, Reuben Johannes*, Kevin Luiters* and WJ Strydom*.
* Debutants.
Milestones of the series are:
* South Africa winning three tournaments in Las Vegas, Tokyo and Glasgow
* Frankie Horne extended the South African career record for tournament to 50. They were all consecutive, another milestone.
* Cornal Hendricks finished the season as the team’s leading try scorer with 38 tries, fourth on the overall list behind Brent Russell (46), Fabian Juries (41) and Cecil Afrika (40). His 190 points was also the most by any player this season.
* Kevin Luiters, Ruwellyn Isbell, Seabelo Senatla, Justin Geduld, Warren Whiteley, Werner Kok, Reuben Johannes and WJ Strydom all made their debuts for South Africa during the series.
