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Delport named SA Sevens captain

19 November 2009

Paul Delport has been named captain of the Springbok Sevens squad for the 2009/2010 IRB Sevens World Series. South Africa won the series for the first time in this year.

He has previously captained a number of national sides, including SA Schools, as well as the national under-19 and under-21 teams.

Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu believes that Delport's appointment as captain for the new season will further strengthen the existing leadership structures within the Sevens squad.

"All the senior and contracted players in the squad fully endorse Paul as their captain for the season," Treu said on Friday.

Leaders

"We want to create a platform for all our players to excel as leaders. This is part of the legacy we want to build. In the future, there will be new captains and leaders who will take over from Paul, so it's important to have many leaders in our setup.

"The Vodacom Bulls have proved to be successful thanks to their leaders such as Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez and Bakkies Botha in their squad."

Players such as Mzwandile Stick, Mpho Mbiyozo and Neil Powell, who have previously captained the SA Sevens side, are all expected to play a huge role as senior players in the team.

"Our mentality within the squad is that of a team and not individuals. While Paul has been named captain, our strength will continue to be based on a team effort. That's what I am expecting," added Treu.

Delport's history

Delport, 25, has represented the Vodacom Stormers and the Cats in Super Rugby, and played Absa Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup rugby for the Vodacom Western Province teams before switching to Sevens.

"It's an unbelievable feeling and it's a huge honour and challenge to captain the Springbok Sevens side, who are the best team in the world," said Delport.

"We're going to be faced with plenty of challenges this season but we've got a fantastic group of players with an excellent mix of youth and experience that should hold us in good stead.

"I might be the captain of the side, but on the field it's going to be about seven individuals working together as a team to achieve the ultimate goal."

Call on experience

Delport added that he intends to call on the experience of the many senior players in the Springbok Sevens squad to ensure that the team continues their success on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit.

"Our goal will be to continue from where we left off last season," said Delport.

"We have great Sevens performers such as Mzwandile Stick, Mpho Mbiyozo, Marius Schoeman, Kyle Brown, to name but a few, who are all natural leaders and people that I am going to work with as a team to achieve our objectives.

Demanding success

"Obviously the South African rugby public demands success from all national teams and we are no exception. We'll be going all out to ensure that we continue to make our fans proud and hopefully retain our crown by the end of the season."

The Springbok Sevens squad, who are currently in Stellenbosch preparing for the upcoming international season, begin their defence of their IRB Sevens World Series title in Dubai on 4 December.