Mindful of the progress made under the influence of affable Frenchman Claude Saurel four years ago, the man in charge of Tunisia’s 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens campaign, South African-born Danie de Villiers, is keen to make his own mark on Tunisian rugby.
Tunisia became known as one of the giant killers of RWC Sevens 2005 after knocking over South Africa in the opening match in Hong Kong.
“That was a very, very good result for Tunisia and obviously it is something we would like to achieve again. I think the focus for us though in 2008/09 is not so much to be giant killers, but to be part of the giants.”
Drawn to play England in their opening Pool E match in Dubai de Villiers is confident of another good showing first up.
“We are up for it, we want to go to the World Cup, not just as participants but we really want to compete. If you want to achieve something we will have to knock off some of the big teams.”
Amateurs professional preparation
With just six premiership clubs fielding one team each in their domestic competition, Tunisia doesn’t have a big pool of players to draw upon or the salaries to match most of their high profile opponents. But de Villiers says his side’s preparation is just as professional.
“We are definitely amateur when it comes to paying salaries but I can promise you that in the way we prepare we are very much professional.
“All the guys are working very hard. It is a big honour to the go to the World Cup and the competition within the squad is very healthy and very good.”
It wasn’t an easy ride to get to Dubai for the former head coach of Currie Cup side the Pumas, with Tunisia claiming the final RWC Sevens berth from the Africa region qualifiers by winning a third place play-off over Namibia.
As for the pressure of rekindling the types of results that his predecessor achieved de Villiers is under no illusions.
“I try not to look too much at results that were in the past, we are trying to create our own history.”
