Dubai: South Africa could become a dominant force at sevens for many years to come if the performance of Atlantic Invitation in the International Overseas Trophy is anything to go by.
The scratch team, coached by former Arabian Gulf development officer Darryl Weir, clinched the silverware on their second visit to the Dubai tournament, downing Wooden Spoon Blues 29-10.
And Weir believes it is only a matter of time before several of these players break into Paul Treu's South Africa squad, which edged out England to win the opening leg of the new IRB World Series in Dubai.
The Atlantic Invitation team is composed mainly of schoolboys who make an impression in a series of 16 sevens tournaments held across the nation.
They are then brought together to play in Dubai and the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens in Port Elizabeth later this month.
Weir said: "The talent out there is unbelievable ... we could probably have picked 10 or 15 sides like this from all those tournaments. The frightening thing is that we trained together as a complete squad only once."
The team featured eight schoolboys, one under-19, one under-21 and one senior in the shape of Jovan Bowles, who was a member of South Africa's sevens squad two years ago.
Weir added: "I'd love to see Jovan back there, he has got so much to offer. I'm in constant talk with Paul about what we're doing and who is coming through the ranks.
"He already knows all about Jacques Erasmus. He's 18 and runs the 100 metres in 10.4 seconds, but we're a very quick squad. The average 100 metres time is 10.9 seconds."
However, Weir feared Atlantic might not be back to defend their Dubai title next year.
"We think the tournament may clash with final year exams," he said. "And school has to come first for these boys. We will wait and see."
