SA Students Rugby Sevens aiming for medal finish
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Loading...The South African Students Rugby Sevens Men and Women’s teams are aiming for a strong start and an even stronger finish at the 30th Summer Universiade Games, to be be played in Naples, Italy from 5-7 July.
The South African men’s team will be defending the gold medal they won last year in Swakopmund, Namibia, while the SA Women’s team will be determined to end the weekend with gold medals around their necks after losing in the semi-finals in 2018.
The men’s team, captained by Lungelo Gosa, are boosted by the presence of Kurt-Lee Arendse, who made his Springbok Sevens debut during the 2018/19 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Apart from Gosa, Pieter van der Bergh (coach) also has Johann Kritzinger, Eugene Hare and Diedrik Oberholzer available again, after they formed part of last year’s gold medal effort.
They face Argentina and Romania in pool play on Friday and Russia on Saturday. The knock-out stages are played on Sunday.
The SA Women’s side have been strenghtened by several players from the Springbok Women’s Sevens team.
Rights Mkhari and Nadine Roos are full-time contracted players, while Libbe Janse van Rensburg and Voice Ndou have played for the team before, and Babalwa Latsha represented for South Africa at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in July last year.
Riaan van der Merwe (coach) will be aware of the tough pool they find themselves in, with Russia, Belgium and Argentina all capable of beating the best teams.
Women’s Pools:
A – Canada, France, Japan, Italy
B – Russia, South Africa, Belgium, Argentina
Men’s Pools:
A – Russia, Romania, Argentina, South Africa
B – France, Japan, Italy, Canada
The SA teams are:
SA Men:
- Mervano Da Silva (University of Western Cape)
- Lungelo Gosa (captain; North West University)
- Johann Kritzinger (University of Stellenbosch)
- Eugene Hare (North West University)
- Kurt-Lee Arendse (University of Western Cape)
- Rohaan Adams (University of Western Cape)
- Gustav Erlank (North West University)
- Edwin Van Rooyen (North West University)
- Jacobus Smit (University of Pretoria)
- Bernard Van der Linde (University of Pretoria)
- Diedrik Oberholzer (North West University)
- David Carey (University of Witwatersrand)
Management:
Team Leader: Clement Trout (University of Western Cape)
Coach: Pieter van den Berg (North West University)
Strength and Conditioning: Cobus Oosthuizen (North West University)
SA Women’s team:
- Kemisetso Baloyi (University of Pretoria)
- Libbie Janse van Rensburg (University of Pretoria)
- Megan Phillips (University of Pretoria)
- Sune Botha (University of Pretoria)
- Sancha van Niekerk (University of Pretoria)
- Rights Mkhari (University of Venda)
- Shania Swart (University of Pretoria)
- Lusanda Dumke (university of Fort Hare)
- Nadine Roos (University of Pretoria)
- Liske Lategan (University of Pretoria)
- Voice Ndou (University of Johannesburg)
- Babalwa Latsha (University of Western Cape)
Management:
Team Leader: Elmein Cloete (University of Western Cape)
Head Coach: Riaan van der Merwe (University of Pretoria)
Coach: Sigila Mvuysi (Cape Peninsula University of Technology)
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