Hougard wants to click his feet in Cape Town too
THE Cape Town Sevens is set to rock the Mother City this weekend, and one man who is keen to be the star of the show is Francois Hougaard.
The pace was too hot to handle at times and he knows he has a lot to work on, but a few magical touches showed that Hougaard can become a force in Sevens rugby.
Hougaard, brought in from the 15man code to bolster the Springbok Sevens squad ahead of the Rio Olympic Games next year, battled initially in his first foray into the shortened version of the game in Dubai at the weekend.
But he rounded off a disappointing tournament for the South Africans with a trademark click of his feet to dash over for the winning try against Australia in the Plate final.
It was scant consolation for the Blitzboks, who was bundled out of the main Cup competition by new giantkillers USA, who beat them 21-19 in controversial circumstances on Saturday morning SA time. The Americans also accounted for New Zealand twice in the tournament – once in the pool stages, and then in the thirdplace playoff.
Speaking yesterday on arrival from Dubai at Cape Town International Airport, Hougaard said: “It’s a much more technical game than a lot of people think.
“Many people see it as just a few guys running around, and that it’s rather easy.
“But you are actually very vulnerable most of the time. The ball in play is also seven or eight minutes – where you work non-stop – which is relatively high where you don’t stand still. I think it’s an amazing game.
The Blitzboks will go all out to win their home tournament once more following their success last year in Port Elizabeth, and with the 55 000-seater Cape Town Stadium sold out for both Saturday and Sunday, it’s sure to be a memorable tournament.
The Blitzboks have been drawn in Pool B this weekend with Dubai finalists England, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Hougaard cannot wait to get out on to the field. “It was an unbelievable experience (in Dubai) – but Cape Town is going to be much bigger than that, and I don’t think any of us wanted any other place than Cape Town.”