Treu looks to Varsity Cup duo
SA Sevens coach Paul Treu has boosted his playing resources by naming two more Varsity Cup players in a 26-man Sevens training squad.
UCT flanker Kyle Brown - who exploded onto the Varsity Cup scene in 2008 - was a regular in Treu's IRB Sevens World Series-winning squad last season, whilst Maties ace Chase Minnaar has also recently been contracted to the SA Sevens squad by SA Rugby.
SA Under-20 captain Robert Ebersohn also played some Varsity Cup rugby last year before graduating to Treu's Sevens squad and now his Shimlas teammate Marlin Ruiters, along with Maties loose forward Jonathan Adendorf, will be following in the footsteps of the aforementioned players.
Both Ruiters and Adendorf have the opportunity to force their way into Treu's squad during the 2009/10 World Series season, with the coach saying: "We obviously want to fine-tune our preparations for Dubai and George, but we must also select a twelve-man squad for the tournament in Sri Lanka."
The Springbok Sevens coach and the national Sevens selectors have casted their net wide in their search for new talent and the squad is a mixture of contracted players, promising Under-21s and an SA Students representative.
Kovsies ace Ruiters and Hoffman Maritz were added to the list after impressive performances at the National Inter-Provincials held over the weekend in Port Elizabeth.
"We have lost a number of regulars from our successful team of last season like Lionel Mapoe, Robert Ebersohn and Philip Snyman and we therefore need to find replacements before the start of the IRB Sevens World Series next month," explained Treu.
"I am confident that we will find suitable replacements, but we must take into account that the newcomers must be given time to understand our systems and they need to adjust very quickly to the pace and intensity of the game at international level."
The 26-man squad will assemble at the Sports Science Institute in Newlands on Thursday where the players will undergo a series of medical, fitness and conditioning tests before heading off to the training fields in Stellenbosch.
The South African Sevens training squad (Varsity Cup players in bold): Kyle Brown, Frankie Horne, Paul Delport, Ryno Benjamin, Marius Schoeman, Mpho Mbiyozo, Cecil Afrika, MJ Mentz, Chase Minnaar, Neil Powell, Renfred Dazel, Mzwandile Stick (all SA Rugby contracted players); Jonathan Adendorf (Maties), Shaun Venter (Pumas), Bernado Botha (Lions U21), Chris Dry, Hoffman Maritz, Kholo Ramashala, Marlin Ruiters (Free State Cheetahs U21), JW Jonker (Free State Cheetahs), Steven Hunt (Western Province U21), Rosco Specman (Sharks U21), Divan Ferguson (Lions U19), Deon Helberg (SA Students) Shannon Rick, Brian Shabangu (Sharks).