Best of luck to the KZN Sharks men’s and women’s sevens teams, who will be participating in the SARU Inter provincial Sevens Tournament in Nelspruit this weekend.
Kzn Sharks Men’s 7’s
12 Ngoni Chibuwe
11 Jacques Fick
10 Lelethu Gcilitshana
9 Thobekani Buthelezi
8 Monli Nkosi
7 Siphamandla Bingwa
6 Jasper Genis
5 Nkululeko Ndlovu
4 Lotter Pretorius
3 Jakobus Horn
2 Calvin Sacks
1 Liam Draycott
Coach: Lungi Kama
Manager: Rudi Dames
Medic : Russ Booth
Kzn Sharks Women’s 7’s
1 Jamie Norton
2 Siphiwe Mpanza
3 Nqabakazi Nqoro
4 Lynette Ziqubu
5 Claudia Thompson (capt)
6 Zinhle Ndawonde
7 Nqobile Mhlangu
8 Philile Khumalo
Coach: Roland Norris
Manager: Tami Sutherland

And that mens team is exactly what i mean by missed opportunities. Why arent any of the Sharks backline and loose forwards playing here? Surely playing 7s will improve their skills and handling.
Women’s team only has 8 players? 😯
@Ben (Comment 2) : They’re fit.
Anyone know if this is being televised?
@SheldonK (Comment 1) : ja boet would have loved some youngsters/fringe players to get a chance but then again maybe not fit enough to play 7’s?!?!
Rob any idea if the players selected are normal 15 man club players or are they a bit more specialised 7’s players?
@JD (Comment 5) : Yes can include a youngster or 2 but what about guys like Jordaan, Sithole, Esterhuizen, Reinach, DuPreez x 2, Radebe, Louw etc. All guys that could have benefitted form the 7s skills prior to super rugby next year.
@SheldonK (Comment 7) : yes that’s also true could have been good to get them involved. How long have this Sharks 7’s side practice together before the tournament?
@JD (Comment 8) : i cant say for certain with tis side but i know guys that hav played in the side before and they usually hold trials in the middle of the club season and then have a practice weekly or so with the squad picked then. And thats all well and good and great these guys get a chance. But surely we want to put our best foot forward. So picking these 7: Jordaan, Sithole, Reinach, D DuPreez, JL DuPreez, Louw,Williams would have been a much better side?
I remember the days when the National Sevens tournament took place in Stellenbosch every year in February and many of the top players represented their Provinces…
Natal won that competition three of the four years that I was in Stellenbosch (1993-1996)…
One of those years (1995) the Natal players invited us (a group of very vocal Natal Supporters who had watched every game over the two days) to celebrate with them. That is the reason I can tell the story that Hugh Reece-Edwards once sprayed champagne all over me…and that I once partied with Natal players until the sun came up! That year Shaun Payne scored the winning try against WP…
If we have an actual 7’s side (not sure if this is or isn’t) then it would be unfair to tell them they can’t play because 15s players need to throw the ball around a bit.
Also I am pretty sure training hasn’t started yet so most of the Sharks team won’t be around, correct me if I am wrong?
Maybe the Sharks should have entered their woman’s team for 7’s into the mens category. They seem to be doing better than their male counterparts.
@pastorshark (Comment 12) : Shaun Payne, very underrated wing!
@Culling Song (Comment 15) : Yup…he really was! And that night he was a flipping hero!! Province scored the “winning try” in the last minute…Natal took a quick kick off, Payne out jumped his opposite number for the ball and scored under the posts literally seconds before the hooter. Great memory! He ended up marrying a good friend of mine, German girl from northern KZN…
Here’s a little write-up about the interprovincial sevens tournament…Bulls won…
http://www.sarugbymag.co.za/blog/details/blue-bulls-come-up-trumps
On day 1 our boys lost 5-39 to the Leopards, lost 0-27 against the Pumas and won 29-17 against Boland…
On day 2 we beat Griquas 19-17. We didn’t qualify for any of the Shield, Bowl, Plate or Cup finals…
That is rather disappointing. I agree with several on here that we miss an opportunity with this tournament…
Our women’s results were much better…but they also didn’t qualify for any finals (the results of the semis are not listed so don’t know where they got knocked out)…
@pastorshark (Comment 18) : When will all this losing stop!??? Need strong leadership to break this cycle once and for all.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 21) : It seems as if they have not prioritised sevens at all…that is very disappointing…