The Springbok Women’s Sevens celebrate after qualifying for the SVNS Playoff tournament next month in Los Angeles. They had a productive day at the Challenger tournament, winning all three of their pool games.
Image: Travis Prior / World Rugby
The Springbok Women’s Sevens booked their place at the SVNS Series playoff tournament in Los Angeles next month following three excellent wins in the group stages of the final qualifier in Krakow, Poland.
South Africa defeated their hosts in the first pool game 29-10, before dominating Czechia and running away with the score, winning 45-0. Their final match against Argentina was a dead-rubber match in terms of qualification, but still some excellent defending laid the platform for a 22-0 victory to remain unbeaten.
They will face Kenya (1.34 pm) in the first semi-final on Saturday and will be out for revenge after losing to their African neighbours in Cape Town last month.
Ace points scorer Nadine Roos played a pivotal role in all three wins and managed to bag double tries against the Argentineans and Czechia. Her points total against the Czechians amounted to 20, while she also scored 12 against the Argentines. For her second try in the final match, she copped a late tackle after dotting the ball down, but the referee failed to penalise the tackler.
South Africa showed some quality on the attack, especially in a nervy first game against the Polish Women, when they scored two converted tries, only to concede a double before and after halftime to make the scores closer. But they then capitalised on a yellow card to pull away from Poland, with speedster Maria Tshiremba scoring on either side of the sin bin to secure the game.
A late try by the Springbok Women’s Sevens, when the clock was already in the red, showed their determination with the ball in hand.
Against Czechia other winger Ayanda Malinga bagged a hattrick of tries, which brought her tally for the weekend to four after also getting in on the action in the opening game. The South Africans did well on defence too to keep their opponents from crossing the line, blanking them in a one-sided affair.
The duel with Argentina started with an opening try by Zintle Mphupa after she slipped a few would-be tacklers. Things were a bit nervy towards the end of the half when the Argentinians attacked, but some good cover defence to dot the ball behind their own posts, saved South Africa from conceding.
In the second half, the first Roos try, where she outstripped the defence, gave them some breathing space, before newcomer Vianca Boer and Roos went over again to clinch the game and top spot in their pool.