Grobler preparing his SA Students

FNB Tuks’ Freddie Grobler lives a double life… You see, aside from his Varsity Cup duties – as the Tuks head coach – the likeable 38-year-old will once again be looking after the SA Students’ Seven-a-side squad.

Last year, the SA Students – under Grobler’s guidance – won the Students Sevens World Cup and the Tuks mentor is hoping to use the 2009 season as preparation for the 2010 Students Sevens World Cup in Portugal.

For now, however, the SA Students will be taking part in a students only seven-a-side tournament in France – “sort of like a mini-World Cup”, according to Grobler – whilst they are also hoping to play in an event in Singapore later this year.

“The squad will gather on the second weekend of May,” explained the Tuks boss to varsitycup.co.za, “before flying to France on the 10th (of May) for the tournament which takes place that week.”

Looking ahead to other fixtures, he added: “We’ve also been invited to play in an international tournament in Singapore later this year – alongside Paul Treu’s Bok side, who will play as the Vipers. So if we can get a sponsor that will be a great experience for the guys and great preparation for the Students World Cup next year.”

Unlike the Varsity Cup, being a student is the major criteria for selection in the SA Students Sevens squad. (In the Varsity Cup age is the only real big criteria – as non-students under the age of 25 are allowed to compete in the competition.) But that ‘students-only’ criteria aside, Varsity Cup stars still make up the majority of Grobler’s 12-man squad.

“We obviously look at the Varsity Cup as a major breeding ground for this squad,” said Grobler, “but Varsity Cup stars like Tiger Bax, JJ Engelbrecht and Cameron Peverett – for instance – are not students, so they could not be selected.

“The nice thing is that we are able to select players from across the country, provided, of course, that they are students,” he added.

Willem van der Wal – who was recently voted as the Varsity Cup’s Forward of the Tournament – will again lead the SA Students Sevens team into battle (as he did last year), whilst other familiar faces from the Varsity Cup are UCT’s Enoch Panya, Maties stars Paul Bosch, Jonathan Adendorf and Morné Jooste and Pukke centre Wouter Watermeyer.

Speedy Fort Hare winger Ziniko Dumaphi, a member of the Border Bulldogs Vodacom Cup team, is the only non-Varsity Cup member of the SA Students squad – but Grobler is confident that he has a good mix of players at his disposal.

“There is superb seven-a-side talent in this country,” enthused Grobler, also pointing to Paul Treu’s SA Sevens that is doing so well on the International Rugby Board world circuit at present.

“The scary thing about the Bok Sevens side is that Paul Treu could actually pick 12 other players that were not in Hong Kong and Adelaide and they would fare equally as well on the IRB circuit.”

Grobler, whose Tuks side finished fourth in the 2009 Varsity Cup, has plenty of Sevens experience – both as a coach and a player.

Having played a lot of Sevens as a youngster, he guided the Blue Bulls to the national Sevens title in 2007 (and the quarterfinals last year), whilst his coaching exploits with the Students Sevens side are well documented too.

Said Grobler: “Sevens is a great format of the game and a nice breeding ground for players to go onto bigger and better things in the future.

“As a coach, it’s also been a great learning curve and I’m lucky to be able to tap into Paul (Treu), too. We’re always in touch, sharing ideas, and maybe one or two of my players will start graduating into full international Sevens players in the future.”

The SA Students Sevens squad:
Willem van der Wal (Pukke, captain)
Jacobus van der Merwe (Tuks)
Enoch Panya (UCT)
Ziniko Dumaphi (Fort Hare)
Paul Bosch (Maties)
Jonathan Adendorf (Maties)
Shaun Davids (Tuks)
Thabo Molete (Pukke)
Morné Jooste (Maties)
Wouter Watermeyer (Pukke)
Wouter Stieger (Shimlas)
Stephanus van Heerden (Tuks)

Management team:
Freddie Grobler
Jan-Hendrik Robbertse
Rozanne Schreiber
Colin Mintoor
Ivan Booysen
Shaun du Toit