Coach Marius Schoeman is a in special place

IT MIGHT not be the same Springbok Sevens team we see at the Hong Kong leg of the World Sevens Series this weekend, but former Blitzboks captain Marius Schoeman believes that the young squad can do great things, just like many before them did.

Blitzboks coach Neil Powell decided to take the biggest chunk of his regular squad to the Commonwealth Games rather than letting them run at the seventh tournament of the 2017/18 Sevens Series. And that decision opened the door for Schoeman to make his Springbok Sevens coaching debut at the Cathay Sevens.

Schoeman, who is the current SA Rugby Sevens Academy coach, scored 103 career tries over a decade-long Sevens career, 16 of which were at the same iconic venue where his young squad’s abilities will be put on show.

“This is a special place for me. Many players started here and went on to do great things in rugby, and without sounding arrogant, I believe some of the players in this youthful squad will do the same,” he said.

Schoeman’s 42 tournaments alone is more than the combined 32 in his squad, but to the coach this points to a massive opportunity for the five novices that will take to the field for the first time.

“I have coached some of these players from a young age. The likes of Heino Bezuidenhout, Stedman Gans and Mfundo Ndhlovu were part of the squad we took to the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa in 2015, and we won gold then,” said the coach. “Others like Selvyn Davids, Mosolwa Mafuma, Ryan Oosthuizen and Dewald Human have played for the SA Rugby Sevens Academy squad in Germany, Dubai, South America and France, and I know their strengths well.”

While the Blitzboks hold a slender lead at the top of the 2017/18 World Series (with a full-strength Fiji side lurking right behind and eager to win a fourth title in four years), Schoeman believes his squad knows all about the importance of trusting the structures. “This is a wonderful opportunity for this group to announce themselves on the world stage if they apply that.”

The Springbok Sevens team: Heino Bezuidenhout, Ryan Oosthuizen, Zain Davids, Marco Labuschagne, Mosolwa Mafuma, James Murphy, Selvyn Davids, Dewald Human, Rhyno Smith, Stedman Gans, Muller du Plessis, Mfundo Ndhlovu, Sandile Ngcobo* (*Replacement player) The Springbok Sevens schedule in Pool C (SA times): Friday 6 April: 13h10 v South Korea Saturday 07 April: 06h22 v Scotland, 10h26 v England)