OUTSPOKEN: SA’s Ricardo Duarttee
Ricardo Duarttee has never been shy to speak his mind, and he was at it again ahead of this weekend’s Cape Town Sevens.
The Blitzboks battle ship first got stuck into the new format for the Cape event, which will see teams play just two pool games instead of three on Saturday, with the four pool winners going straight into Sunday’s semifinals.
This has been adopted in order to assist the players in coping with tournaments on consecutive weekends, following the Blitzboks’ sixth-place finish at last weekend’s Dubai Sevens.
‘Tricky Ricky’ says: “I will honestly say that I am not crazy about it. I want to play as much as possible, and now we are only going to play four games this weekend.
“I know some guys might think that it may be good for the body, but as an athlete, I am actually waiting for that sixth game, so that you can take teams on with the fatigue.
“So, for me, it feels almost as if people actually underestimate how difficult this game is. That’s why I say there can be a bit more respect shown to this game from SA Rugby’s side, and also overall around the world.
“It’s not just in our land, but it’s across the world that sevens is seen as the ‘little brother’ of rugby. For me as a player, I feel that certain players are made for sevens, some players can play 15s really well – but it’s not the same game.”
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