Schools Sevens tournament introduced

A national Sevens tournament for schools was launched on Monday in Pretoria, sponsored by the internet service provider @lantic.

The tournament will run from 4 August to 27 October in ten centres in South Africa. The rugby promoter Willem Strauss who is involved in bringing the idea to fruition says: "This is just a pilot scheme to get it off the ground. Next year we will involve all 14 provinces."

The "pilot scheme" will involve some 200 players from 50 schools.

As an added incentive, a player of the tournament will be selected at every tournament. These 10 players will be invited by Treu to the Springbok Sevens training camp in preparation for the first two international sevens tournaments in Dubai and George in late November and early December.

These 10 players will also make up the @lantic Invitation Team that will travel to Dubai to play against local junior teams from the Arabian Gulf at the IRB Dubai Sevens tournament at the end of November. Their costs will be covered by @lantic.

Strauss sees it as an opportunity to fast-track players to the national Sevens setup.

The Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu said: "I see this as an exciting pilot project that can lead to good things. Sevens rugby at school level needed something like this and I look forward to see the stars of the future emerging during the series."

Sevens has become a career choice for some players with opportunities to play around the world. For some others it has opened gate to the 15-man game.

The schedule for the series is:

4 August: Pretoria at Hoerskool Overkruin

18 August: Vereeniging at HTS Vereeniging

25 August: Upington at Hoerskool Duineveld

1 September: Durban at Glenwood High

8 September: Middelburg at Hoerskool Kanonkop

15 September: Polokwane at HTS Tom Naude

27 October: Paarl at Paarl Gimnasium