In Dubai Tuks took on countries and were only eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champions, France.

"When we last year applied to participate in the Dubai tournament, the organisers first thought we were joking. How does a club now want to compete against countries?" Riaan said.

"But we silenced our critics by finishing second in our pool. In our group game against the French it was still a case of head to head at halftime (7-7) and they only scored the winning try in injury time (17-12)."

Riaan added the Dubai tournament was hardly finished before Tuks got invited by the organizers to return in 2010 for the spectacular sevens showdown in the United Arab Emirates.

"We have also received two other invitations to IRB tournaments: in Las Vegas from February 13 to 14 and in Hong Kong from 23 to 24 March. Two tournaments await us in June: the Tusker Sevens in Nairobi and the Reunion Sevens in Saint-Denis. We were also invited to take part in the Castle Sevens in May in Lusaka, "said a very proud Riaan.