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'I'm resigning because I can no longer peddle a lie'

Paul Delport during day 2 of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 Challenge Quarter Finals match 11 between South Africa and Japan at DHL Stadium on September 10, 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

The former Springbok Sevens captain decided to step down as Springbok Women’s Sevens coach following the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town last month. However, SA Rugby only made it known to the public in a statement that was released on Wednesday.

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In an interview with the Daily Maverick, Delport slammed SA Rugby for failing to invest in women’s rugby in the country.

“It was pretty simple for me. There were 16 teams at the Women’s Sevens Rugby World Cup. There are 13 teams that are full-time professional. There are three of us who aren’t. That’s us [South Africa], Madagascar and Colombia and we finished 14th, 15th and 16th,” said Delport to Daily Maverick.

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“It’s pretty easy. I don’t need to explain this to anyone and the people at SA Rugby won’t listen.

“I’m not willing to work for people who don’t care about our Women’s Sevens programme.

“They’re just unwilling to invest. I don’t understand. Women’s rugby is where it is at the moment, where all the growth can happen. And we don’t want to invest, which doesn’t make any sense.”

Delport has been with the women’s Sevens team since 2017 and in that time a proper programme was never put in place.

“Apparently there’s a Sevens programme for next year as well as going forward that I wasn’t privy to and that I wasn’t consulted on,” said Delport.

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“I’ve been asking for the same thing for five years and I still got nothing that I’ve asked for.”

In the interview, Delport admitted he was forced to lie to players about incoming investments.

“[SA Rugby] don’t give a sh*t. I’m just resigning because I can no longer peddle a lie to talented young women,” said Delport.

“I’ve got these women asking me ‘Paulie, what should I do? Should I sign here or should I go overseas?’

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“I don’t think it’s fair for a national coach to be telling players they shouldn’t sign here because there’s nothing going on. Unfortunately, that’s the truth.

“We don’t have enough athletic women playing Sevens and there’s an unwillingness to invest. If we want to do it properly we need to go and find proper athletes, but we also need to make it worthwhile for these talented young women. We can’t ask them to do things for free.

“We’re just falling further and further behind the rest of the world.”

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EllenMoody 5 hours ago
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JWH 6 hours ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Do you hear yourself? Do you have any concept of world view? Have you tried looking into why people call Ireland ‘arrogant’? Obviously not.


We started calling you arrogant when you called our captain a ‘shit Richie McCaw’. In New Zealand. On our turf. Don’t think that kind of behaviour really calls for respect, does it.


NZ don’t really talk ourselves up, if anything the rugby does it for us. No kiwi goes in the media and says: ‘We are gonna win the RWC’. However, I have found many instance of IRISH media saying that the Irish should win, without a doubt. THAT is disrespectful.


The All Blacks have played good rugby, even some of the best rugby ever, at many points in history, but I don’t think you could find a single instance of one of those players, or the NZ media, saying that they should whitewash their opponents. Ever.


Now, onto your analysis. Ireland DID choke the QF. They beat the champions, they were ranked first coming into it, a lot of players at the peaks of their powers. Its hard to say that they didn’t choke. Obviously, their preparation was just not as good as NZ, and thats all there really is to it.


If Ireland had repsected that ABs team and that QF more, maybe they would’ve prepared properly for it and won. But they didn’t.


Maybe if Ireland had won their QF last RWC, they wouldn’t have to be in the same pool as SA and Scotland. I mean, its called a draw for a reason. NZ got third last RWC, so of course they should get a reasonable pool, and they were ranked pretty highly too. If you want to talk about easy pools, look no further than Pool 3 with England, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia I think?


Now, obviously you don’t remember how that QF ended, so I’ll go ahead and rectify that. Ireland reclaimed the ball off kickoff and marched for 20ish phases into the opposition half. Savea then won a turnover, but the referee refused to give it, so play went on. Finally, at the NZ 22, after not giving up a single penatly in 25 phases of hard defense, Sam Whitelock, the most capped All Black of all time, wins the game with an incredible steal.


Now, NZ players having a go at Ireland. Do you cry when you get hit after making the first swing? We all know Sexton is a prick on the field, its just the truth. And Ioane never backs down from a clash, so he thought he should humble a player who has never won an international knockout game who thought he was all that. Don’t really see the issue, its poetic justice really.

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