South Africa will be looking to win on home soil for the first time this week, having won the Dubai leg of the World Sevens circuit last weekend.
The hosts have never won in George, where the competition heads this weekend, but after winning all their matches last week, including downing the mighty All Blacks in the final, confidence will be soaring in coach Paul Treu’s camp.
But the South Africans will do well to remember that success one week is no guarantee of a repeat performance the next.
South Africa have struggled to reach finals on a consistent basis and will be hard pushed in the Southern-western Cape town by the likes of Fiji, the defending champions, New Zealand and England.
Outsiders Argentina will also want to make a good impression.
Treu will again be banking on a core of experienced campaigners to see his side to victory.
The key man will once again be Stefan Basson, who scored 72 points in the 2006/7 series opener in Dubai.
But one should not rule out the likes of Rayno Benjamin, Jonathan Mokuena, Danwel Demas and Kabamba Floors causing some havoc as well. Floors, especially, who grew up in the region, will want to show his home fans he is among the best Sevens players on the circuit.
Following last weekend’s win in Dubai, Treu said: ”When we got this squad together I said we were going into these two events to win. I think in the past we were happy with third, but that changed for these events this year and now we go home to George.
”Stefan [Basson, who was player of the tournament last week] was outstanding. For me, though, I think Johnny Mokuena and Rayno Benjamin could be the next two Springboks to come out of this squad.”
Floors, a long-serving member of the Sevens team, earned his first Bok cap against England last month.
Past results in George, like New Zealand losing 43-14 to Fiji and Kenya downing Australia, suggest there will once again be plenty of upsets.
South Africa, though, with their home crowd behind them, have to be among the favourites, but counting out the other big guns would be foolish.
And, of course, there will be added pressure on Treu’s men.
Basson admitted as much to a local newspaper this week: ”We probably are under a bit of pressure as we’ve never won a home tournament, but the pressure may be more on Fiji and England.”
The tournament gets under way at Outeniqua Stadium on Friday and concludes Saturday. — Sapa-AFP