South Africa coach Paul Treu has unveiled Paul Delport as the Springbok Sevens captain for the defence of their IRB Sevens World Series crown in 2009/10, which will get underway in Dubai on 4 December.
Treu believes that the appointment of Delport, who has previously captained the South African Schools and Under 19 and Under 21 teams, will strengthen the existing leadership structures within the Sevens squad.
"All the senior and contracted players in the squad fully endorse Paul as their captain for the season," said Treu, who guided South Africa to three titles en route to their first overall Series crown last season.
"We want to create a platform for all our players to excel as leaders. This is part of the legacy we want to build. In the future, there will be new captains and leaders who will take over from Paul, so it's important to have many leaders in our setup.
The likes of Mzwandile Stick, Mpho Mbiyozo and Neil Powell have all previously captained the Springbok Sevens side and are expected to play a huge role as senior players in their title defence.
"Our mentality within the squad is that of a team and not individuals. While Paul has been named captain, our strength will continue to be based on a team effort. That's what I am expecting," added Treu.
Defence the ultimate goals
Delport added: "It's an unbelievable feeling and it's a huge honour and challenge to captain the Springbok Sevens side, who are the best team in the world.
"We're going to be faced with plenty of challenges this season but we've got a fantastic group of players with an excellent mix of youth and experience that should hold us in good stead.
"I might be the captain of the side, but on the field it's going to be about seven individuals working together as a team to achieve the ultimate goal."
"Our goal will be to continue from where we left off last season.
"We have great Sevens performers such as Mzwandile Stick, Mpho Mbiyozo, Marius Schoeman, Kyle Brown to name but a few who are all natural leaders and people that I am going to work with as a team to achieve our objectives.
"Obviously the South African rugby public demands success from all national teams and we are no exception. We'll be going all out to ensure that we continue to make our fans proud and hopefully retain our crown by the end of the season."
South Africa are the defending champions for the first two legs of the IRB Sevens World Series in Dubai and George. They will face Australia, RWC Sevens winners Wales and Arabian Gulf in Dubai, with Kenya, France and Zimbabwe their opponents a week later on home soil in George.
