Draw for provincial sevens tournament announced
The third @lantic Provincial U/18 sevens tournament will take place on 23 & 24 September at Curro Hazeldean in Pretoria. Fifteen provincial U/18 teams and Zimbabwe will participate in the tournament. At the same time the Curro U/13 Provincial 7s tournament with 16 provincial teams will take place at Curro College in Pretoria.
“This is the third time that we will present this tournaments and is truly a breakthrough. We are very excited about the tournaments,” said Thys Bezuidenhout, chairman of the South African Schools Rugby Association.
According to Marius Schoeman, Manager of the SA Sevens Academy, the @lantic tournament makes an unbelievable contribution to 7s rugby in South Africa. “Players like Cheslin Kolbe, Justin Geduld, Werner Kok and WJ Strydom were identified during @lantic tournaments, invited to the SA 7s Academy and now form part of the Blitzbokke” said Schoeman. Schoeman and Vuyo Zangqa, interim coach of the Springbok 7s team will attend the @lantic tournament in Pretoria.
According to tournament promoter Willem Strauss the provincial tournament is a continuation and culmination of the @lantic Sevens Series that has been held over the past six years. “The players who were overlooked for the Coca-Cola Craven Week, can use this opportunity to participate at provincial level and be identified.
The tournament will also further raise the status of sevens rugby in South Africa”. Strauss also confirmed that @lantic had reached the end of their many years of sponsorship and praised them for their massive contribution to the advancement and development of 7s rugby in South Africa. According to Strauss the Curro Primary Schools Series is already developing player’s skills at primary schools level.
Players who are identified at this year’s tournament could even be in action for the Springboks at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Western Province, who won the main match during this year’s Coca-Cola Craven Week for High Schools, are also the favourites to win the Provincial 7s tournament. The team includes no less that 4 SA Schools players, the captain Rikus Botma from Paarl Gymnasium, amongst others. The first Provincial tournament in 2011 was won by the Blue Bulls while the Cheetahs were victorious last year.
The U/18 matches kick-off on Monday afternoon at 13:00. Tuesdays matches commence at 09:20 with the finals, which will be televised live on SuperSport 8 (channel 208), as follows:
The u18 pools are as follows:
Pool A: Free State, Lions, Boland and Zimbabwe.
Pool B: Valke, Blue Bulls, Griqualand West and Leopards.
Pool C: Western Province, Limpopo Blue Bulls, Pumas and Griffons.
Pool D: KwaZulu-Natal, South Western Districts, Border and Eastern Province.
The u13 pools are as follows:
Pool A: Western Province, Griffons, Lions and Border.
Pool B: KwaZulu-Natal, Pumas, Leopards and Free State.
Pool C: Blue Bulls, Griqualand West, Eastern Province and Lions B.
Pool D: Boland, Valke, Limpopo Blue Bulls and South Western Districts.
![Charlie Hofmeyr u16 - 2018 [captained by Cameron Hanekom]](https://ssschoolsplus.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/WhatsApp-Image-2024-11-20-at-09.03.03-400x257.jpeg)
