Rugby guru Dawn Dunn chats to us about all things Dubai Rugby Sevens
Students of Westville Boys High School will be participating in the Dubai Rugby Sevens and Dawn Dunn spoke to Jane about the event and the budding stars.
Dawn Dunn spoke to Kyle Forsyth, Joshua Porter and Asakhe Fakude, who will be taking part in this year's tournament:
Rugby 7s is one of Dubai's biggest sporting and social events. It's back and promises to be a lot of fun! The tournament even includes a school segment that allows up-and-coming talent to shine through. This year Westville Boys High School (WBHS) will be attending for the first time and I'm stoked!
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I'm no rugby expert, so that's why we had to call Dawn Dunn to tell us more and impart all her knowledge on us. I'm sure you're asking yourself what the difference between 7s rugby and 15s is? This is what Dawn had to say, in the easiest possible way: "15s rugby is 15 player's play for 80 minutes with 8 player's off the bench whilst 7s rugby is a lot more fast-paced as you have 7 player's playing for 7 minutes each half". The players are allowed 5 minutes off the bench. Exciting and extremely action packed, if you ask me!
According to Dawn, some of the boys attending this year's games played sevens last year, while others have only started playing in August this year.
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I asked Dawn about her interest in the tournament and working with WBHS, and this is what she had to say: "As an ex Blitzbok 7s player myself and having taken the previous school I worked with to Dubai, I felt that this would really get 7s rolling in KZN and in Westville."
The school's rugby coach - Coach Dirkie, also thinks it is a real marketing tool for the school and they would like to go every year from now on. It's the first time that WBHS will be attending the tournament. All three boys that will be taking part are 17 years of age and this is a U/19 tournament - congratulations, you champs!
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In case you didn't know, the South African team are called the Blitzboks and they are current HSBC World Series winners and are number one in the world!
All the best guys and bring home the trophy!
