Apart from a decent music playlist, David Brits is adamant that he will bring positive energy to the Springbok Sevens squad in Singapore, where the sixth leg of HSBC SVNS will take place this weekend.
Brits and Sebastiaan Jobb were called up to join the squad after the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, where the Blitzboks finished ninth overall. They will replace the injured Quewin Nortje and Gino Cupido respectively.
Where the swop between Jobb – who had to serve a two-match suspension – and Cupido was confirmed before departure to Hong Kong already, in order for the latter to join the Junior Springbok training squad, Brits was on standby in case of injury and he is ready to add to the squad effort.
“We continued with our training on this side, in case of a call-up, so I am ready and eager to go,” said Brits shortly before departure from Cape Town to Singapore on Monday.
Brits has clear objectives for this trip to Singapore, his first since joining the Blitzboks: “I will bring some smiles and lots of energy with me, that is for sure. The guys will also be happy to see a familiar face or two from home after almost two weeks on tour.
“Our performances were not the usual standard, so the mood will be down. That is professional sport for you, the highest of highs, but also the lowest of lows. But they will be back, this team is good enough, as they have shown in the past, to play and win finals.”
The Singapore format will be the same as it was in Cape Town in December, with teams only playing two pool matches, with the four group winners progressing straight to the semi-finals. The Blitzboks face Great Britain and Hong Kong champions Argentina in their pool.
As was the case in Cape Town, where South Africa won the tournament, they will face series leaders Argentina, but for Brits, that is no train smash.
“I prefer this format, to be honest – playing only four games is far less taxing on your legs, but that is just my preference,” he said.
“Yes, we are playing Argentina again, like we did in Cape Town, and I believe we can get the same result. They are playing well at the moment and deservedly won last weekend, but we don’t fear them as an opponent.
“We know that if we are at our best, we can beat anyone. Last weekend, we had some lapses, teams targeted us at the breakdowns and we battled to get decent possession. But that is done now, we will start this week with a clean slate and determined to deliver a great result.”
Springbok Sevens pool schedule in Singapore (SA times):
Saturday 5 April
- 07h26: Great Britain
- 10h44: Argentina
Springbok Sevens squad for Singapore:
- #2 Ryan Oosthuizen – 54 tournaments, 230 points (46 tries)
- #3 Impi Visser (co-captain) – 44 tournaments, 225 points (45 tries)
- #4 Zain Davids – 51 tournaments, 225 points (45 tries)
- #5 Ricardo Duarttee – 17 tournaments, 276 points (21 tries, 84 conversions, 1 penalty goal)
- #8 Selvyn Davids (co-captain) – 40 tournaments, 719 points (94 tries, 123 conversions, 1 penalty goal)
- #10 Dewald Human – 30 tournaments, 305 points (27 tries, 85 conversions)
- #11 Siviwe Soyizwapi – 58 tournaments, 780 points (156 tries)
- #12 Shilton van Wyk – 25 tournaments, 240 points (48 tries)
- #15 Donavan Don – 8 tournaments, 59 points (11 tries, 2 conversions)
- #16 Sebastiaan Jobb – 3 tournaments, 15 points (3 tries)
- #19 David Brits – 7 tournaments, 40 points (8 tries)
- #21 Zander Reynders – 4 tournaments, 0 points
- #24 Tristan Leyds – 9 tournaments, 114 points (14 tries, 22 conversions)
180
France placed second in the 1900 cricket Olympic games. They were represented by the Union of French Athletic Sports Societies. However, not all the players were French. Most of the players were Britons who were living in Paris during the period.
Alias Stick
France has never won the Rugby World Cup but has been a finalist three times, in 1987, 1999, and 2011.