Chester has hope for sevens Boks

2002-12-08 22:12

Dick van Walsem

Cape Town - The South African sevens rugby team lost their semi-final of the International Rugby Board's (IRB) Grand Prix series in Dubai against Samoa on Saturday, and had to watch the final from the sidelines.

The Samoans made the final by beating the Springboks 19-12, but became unstuck there when they went down 36-0 against the All Blacks.

New Zealand earned 20 points on the world rankings for their victory and Samoa 16 for being runners-up. South Africa and Australia got 12 points each, but since South Africa had the better of the Aussies in their pool match, South Africa take the third place on the rankings with Australia fourth.

Samoa's defeat to the All Blacks, after beating them 19-17 in their pool match, shows that the front runners would once again be difficult to beat this year.

South African coach Chester Williams was understandably disappointed after the semi-final. "We made mistakes and did not use our few chances. In sevens rugby that is fatal. You simply have to capitalise on every scoring opportunity."

On the injury front the news remains bad. Conrad Jantes still carries a hamstring injury and would be replaced by Jorrie Kruger for the second tournament of the series.

Marius Schoeman of the Pumas injured his neck in the Boks' quarter-final against Fiji on Saturday and could not play in the semi-final, but team manager Jonathan Gosslett said he would be ready for the tournament in George this week.

That tournament will be decisive for Williams and his team. Homeground advantage would make the Boks the favourites and that is one of the reasons to make Williams optimistic. "We should do well at home and the newcomers also learned a lot from the first tournament," he said.

The biggest threat to the Boks are the All Blacks and beating them here would do a lot to make up the lost points. The 16 teams competing in the series would arrive in George on Monday.

- Die Burger