Blitzboks captains of past and present will gather to look back at the roots and evolution of Springbok Sevens through the years at The Captains Table event in December.
Plenty has been written and spoken about Springbok Sevens and the team’s success on the World Sevens Series stage, but it is not something that has just happened. It took a great deal of hard work to get the Blitzboks to the point where they won their first series in 2009 after debuting as early as 1993.
In the build-up to the Cape Town Sevens, an historic evening will be held at the Cape Town Stadium on 12 December where 20 years of Springbok Sevens captains will look at where the team has come from and how it has been formed into the ultra-competitive unit that it is today.
From the first tournament win in Wellington in 2002 to going back-to-back in 2017 and 2018, the event will offer a unique perspective of the highs and lows of the team through the eyes of the men that were at the forefront of the action.
Of particular interest will be how the Blitzboks’ team culture has evolved and laid a platform for transformation in the modern era. When the Blitzboks claimed their maiden Seven Series title, they were lead by Mzwandile Stick and the team recently confirmed Siviwe Soyizwapi as captain for the coming season.
Players such as Mpho Mbiyozo, Jonathan Mokuena, Paul Treu, Kambamba Floors, Fabian Juries, Gcobani Bobo and Dewald Human have also worn the captain’s armband. This is important to note in a year where the Springboks took their own strides forward in this respect.
The event will also offer an opportunity to touch base with some of the finest minds working in rugby today. Between them Blitzboks coach Neil Powell and Sevens high-performance manager Marius Schoeman have refined the South African Sevens system and built on the platform laid by Treu, who did an excellent job in bringing the team into the professional era. Paul Delport has also stayed involved in the system, working hard with both the Sevens Academy and the Women’s Sevens team.
Meanwhile, the likes of Stick, who was part of the Springboks’ World Cup-winning coaching staff, Mokenua, who guided NWU to their first Varsity Cup title, and Floors, who coached the Maties’ juniors to back-to-back Young Guns titles, have enjoyed their own forms of success away from Sevens.
We are not telling you to NOT to miss the #CaptainsTable evening, Mzwandile Stick is! pic.twitter.com/cfotokAE9I
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) November 15, 2019
On the whole, the event offers a chance for the Blitzboks captains over the 20 years of the World Rugby Sevens Series to sharing banter and memories of their time in charge for the very first time.
More information about The Captains Table can be found by emailing: captainstable@sarugby.co.za.
