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South Africa coach Paul Treu is excited about unleashing his new youngsters over the next few weeks, as preparations are stepped ahead of the IRB Sevens World Series. Treu takes his squad to the Nashua Middelburg Sevens this weekend before heading off to the Singapore Sevens on 6-8 November.

Both tournaments will provide Treu an opportunity to do some fine tuning ahead the Dubai Sevens, with the coach predicting the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series will be the most tightly contested year ever.

At Middelburg the Boks will tackle Zimbabwe, Pumas, Blue Bulls, and Namibia. They last met Zimbabwe’s Cheetahs back at the Trustco Namibia 7s in September coming away with a rampant 61-14 win. Treu is not taking them for granted though and is using the tournament as a key stepping stone and a chance to blood some new players to Sevens.

“They will be a different kettle of fish this time. Winning at Middelburg will do us no good so our ultimate goal is to introduce these players to sevens and to work on small adjustments in our game plan,” said Treu exclusively talking to UR7s.

The new faces in the squad for the coming weeks include Stephen Hunt (Western Province U21), Bernado Botha (Lions U21), Jonathan Adendorf (University of Stellenbosch) and JW Jonker (Cheetahs). Also included is the much anticipated new sensation Cecil Afrika who proved outstanding at the World Games and the Namibia Sevens win.

Treu’s side, playing as the South Africa Vipers, are current double reigning champions at the Singapore Sevens but the coach is adamant that performance is the priority over results.

“We have won in Singapore for the past two years and it is now time to give youngsters an opportunity irrespective of the results.

“We will set a few targets for both tournaments and meeting them will be crucial in our endeavor to keep improving as a team. I want us to come back from Middelburg and Singapore as a team and not as individuals.”

The Boks are the current World Sevens Series champions and will be defending their Dubai Sevens (3-5 Dec) and George Sevens (12-13 Dec) titles when the new season kicks off.

“We are fully aware that the 2009/10 IRB Series could be the most competitive to date, but for now we are just focused on the first step and not the staircase.

“Any team aspiring to win the new Series will not do it over 8 months, but one day at a time. All our energy will be directed towards Middelburg and Singapore.”

Middelburg Sevens are also welcoming the Women’s teams of Botswana, Pumas and the Tukkies. Various local High and Primary schools from Zambia and Botswana will also be participating.