Champions have Treu talent

South Africa may boast some of the game's top sevens players when they start the defence of their IRB Sevens World Series crown tomorrow, but team manager Sebastian Prim insists coach Paul Treu is among the best in world sport.

"He's absolutely critical," said Prim on the eve of the season-opening Dubai Rugby Sevens. "His forward thinking, his execution of ideas and his man-management makes me believe he's up there in the top 10 coaches worldwide.

"We would never have had the success without him. In terms of innovation and the systems he has set up – everything he has put in place has contributed to our achievements."

Treu (pictured) has overseen a resurgence in South African sevens, having spent the past three years of his five-year stint in charge grooming a squad of contracted sevens specialists at a base in Stellenbosch.

His side have rewarded the former Super 12s man with greater consistency in recent seasons, illustrated by the eight World Series wins that underscore the Springboks' first world title trophy since 1999.

However, having been drawn in a tough Group A – Australia, Wales and the Arabian Gulf are their opponents – Prim realises recording a third Dubai triumph for Treu will be more difficult than in past tournaments.

"It will be an incredibly tough group," admitted Prim. "Wales will have fond memories of their World Cup win here in March, so I expect it'll be a really difficult challenge for us in the first game.

"Then the Arabian Gulf are going to be hard to beat because they've a new coach and some fresh young players, while the Australians are always a tough team.

"And there's a big, big target on our back. Everybody would like to bring us back down to earth and try to show that last year was a bit of a fluke.

"But we're prepared for that. We know its going to be harder than any South African team has experienced in the past, yet we're really excited and ready to get on to the field."

The 2009 Dubai Rugby Sevens gets under way tomorrow at 7he Sevens at 9.20am when Fiji take on Scotland. South Africa start their defence in Match Seven at 11.32am.

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