Absent talent: Super 10 and World Cup keep top players=20 away from festival in Hong Kong
RUGBY: Barney Spender
IT’S that time of the year again when, for one mad=20 weekend, the serious business of grinding 15-man rugby is=20 put on the back burner and in its place hops the rather=20 frisky and entirely unserious seven-a-side game.
Yes, the Hong Kong Sevens is with us again. The players=20 love it, the crowds love it and the media, for once,=20 eschews its usual cynicism and cannot get enough of it.=20 but enough about the hospitality which even outguns Mrs=20 Muggins’ meat pies. The rugby is also fun.
It’s a weekend which has traditionally pulled together=20 some of the best rugby talents in the world and told them=20 to throw the ball around — to enjoy themselves with some=20 champagne rugby.
This year, however, early reports of the vintage suggest=20 it might be a tad on the flat side.
Let’s face it, sevens, quite apart from the entertainment=20 factor is also excellent for fitness and ball-handling=20 skills. You would expect the national hierarchies to=20 encourage their players to play. But no, with the 15-a- side World Cup looming large just two months away nearly=20 all the national coaches have gone prissy and prevented=20 their likely squad members from taking part.
The reasons? First is the danger of injury, second the=20 fear that players will be distracted from the “real=20 thing”. Third is the Super 10 tournament which in South=20 Africa involves players from Transvaal, Western Province=20 and Free State.
In South Africa’s case this weird list of excuses and=20 prior-ities has just about scuppered any chance of=20 winning and may even see the Boks knocked out at the=20 first stage where they are up against the seeded=20 Argentinians as well as the less fancied Sri Lankans.
And frankly all three reasons are total hogwash. For a=20 start, players are far less likely to get injured in=20 sevens rugby than they are in the big boys’ game.=20 Ironically, the South African captain of past years and=20 their number one sevens player Andre Joubert was not=20 chosen for Hong Kong. He would have been going on Natal’s=20 pre-season tour of “friendlies” to Australia had he not=20 damaged an ankle in another “friendly” 15-man game=20 against Border. Where is the logic?
Second, the notion of distractions holds no water. Would=20 the same excuse prevail if, say, Joubert wanted to go=20 sailing for a weekend or put his feet up and read the=20 plays of Oscar Wilde? Of course not. It’s a “wrap ’em in=20 cotton wool” attitude which is a load of baloney.
And frankly, the whole psychology of focusing exclusively=20 on 15-man rugby at this juncture seems worrying. When=20 something important — like the World Cup — is looming,=20 distractions can be a blessing.
As for the Super 10 … well, when did it become a=20 greater privilege to wear provincial colours than=20 national colours? Did someone at the back mention money?
Vlok Cilliers is one player who would grace any sevens=20 tournament but he has to travel as second choice flyhalf=20 to New Zealand and Australia as Western Province complete=20 their campaign.
Even if you did excuse the Super 10 players that still=20 leaves some brilliant sevens players such as Joubert,=20 Joost van der Westhuizen and Ruben Kruger but there we=20 get back to the cotton wool.
Still, the decision has been made and the South African=20 team will without a doubt contribute something positive=20 to the tournament.
Despite the lack of the top players there are still a=20 number of exciting and experienced runners in the=20 Springbok side. They are led by Deon O’Cuinneagain from=20 Stellenbosch who came into the sevens side in 1993 and=20 has been there ever since.
He has been written off by almost everyone as a “sevens=20 specialist” which by inference suggests that he has about=20 as much future in the 15-man game as Guy Kebble has of=20 winning a Miss Wet Bikini contest. Mind you, knowing=20 Kebble …
Of the six Natal players who won the Winfield Cup, John=20 Plumtree and Dieter Kriese went to Hong Kong last year,=20 Dick Muir played in the 1993 World cup in Edinburgh, and=20 Kevin Putt has been to the event in a previous life as an=20 All Black.
That leaves the youthful Luke Smith and Shaun Payne who=20 are joined by Jacques Jonkers, the big, strong Free State=20 wing who acts as cover for Chris Badenhorst in 15s, and=20 the two fliers from Eastern Province, Riaan Potgie-ter=20 and Tony Markow.
It is certainly not a poor side but whether it is good=20 enough to topple the dazzling Fijians and World Cup=20 winners England — who are sending a team for the first=20 time — remains to be seen.
As for stealing the trophy away from Eric Rush’s New=20 Zealanders, well that seems highly unlikely. but, like=20 previous Hong Kong Sevens tournaments, it should be a=20 barrel of fun for everyone and the only losers will be=20 the cotton woollies who stayed away.