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Blitzbokke savouring victory

Johannesburg - There will be two weeks of well deserved rest and then it will be back to business as usual, Springbok Sevens' coach Paul Treu said shortly after he and several victorious members of the Las Vegas tournament arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday.

"Hopefully the players can enjoy this win as well as we have a team motto which says we loose quickly and win slowly," said Treu.

"It is very important to enjoy the win although we also know just how important it is to put the win behind us."

On Monday the Boks won their first tournament in the IRB Series in two years, beating arch rivals Fiji 24-14.

Treu said that the team now has its sights firmly set on a repeat performance in Hong Kong and that the experience youngsters like 19-year-old Paul Jordaan acquired, is priceless."

"You can tell players when they are doing hard training that it will be worth it, but they only believe it once they see it and I think now that we've won a tournament they know why we are putting in the hard work," he said.

"Hopefully we can keep building the momentum from here onwards"

The Sevens squad will have a two week break to soak up the vibe created by the win and will resume training on March 1.

The long-serving Sevens mentor spoke with great excitement about his young guns that are starting to live up to expectations.

And although one of the team's top priorities has been to bag a tournament win in the Far East, the progress of the new Blitsbok generation has taken centre stage.

"Our ultimate goal is still to work towards the 2016 Olympics and we will have to see how many of these youngsters we can bring through to that important event for sevens rugby."

Having come so close achieving success in Dubai - where the Boks lost to 19-7 Fiji - and George where England staged a great comeback win, True felt that his men deserved the honours in Vegas.

"I think this one was well deserved and Cecil (Afrika) made a big difference coming into the Vegas tournament.

"The players now believe that they can win and also understand what it takes to win, so I am looking forward to building on this platform."

Treu admitted that the Boks were not up to scratch in Wellington, New Zealand, where they lost in the plate final - also to Fiji.

Winning in the States therefore relieved some pressure for one of the most under-rated coaches in the country. "As a Springbok coach there will always be pressure and that is why it is so encouraging to know that there is such great support for the team from SA Rugby and our new sponsors Absa."

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