Nadine Roos will captain the South African Women’s Sevens team as they begin their campaign at a crucial tournament in Uruguay on Saturday, facing Spain, China and Brazil in the opening day’s matches. Further encounters against Kenya and Argentina are scheduled for Sunday, with the competition employing a round-robin format where points accumulated will determine the ultimate winner.
The team’s performance follows a second-place finish at the opening tournament in Kenya last month, a result that positioned them favorably among the four teams vying for qualification to the World Championships. Another strong showing in Uruguay, coupled with a final qualifying tournament in Brazil next weekend, could solidify their chances.
“Without getting ahead of ourselves, the goal is to walk away winners from this tournament,” Roos stated from Uruguay. She emphasized a pragmatic approach, acknowledging the lessons learned from the Kenyan competition. “We take nothing for granted from the Kenya tournament, only the log points. We edged Spain, lost to Brazil and it was only against China that we could really gain a large win. So we start all over again with our mindset that of expecting the unexpected.”
Roos anticipates a challenging series of matches, noting the motivations of their opponents. “Spain will feel they were close enough to overturn the result, Brazil have the confidence of beating us and China will be looking for revenge. So we are well aware that all of them will be coming for us.” The immediate focus, she said, is on the match against Spain. “The first challenge is Spain and we are just looking at that match and what will be required for the win. Once we crossed that hurdle, we can look at the next challenge.”
Recent recipient of the SA Rugby Women’s Player of the Year award, Roos highlighted areas of improvement identified during training at their Stellenbosch base. “Our function-ons was in transitioning from defence to attack, we were not at our best in that aspect in Kenya,” she explained. “As well, defence is an attitude and ours will be not to miss any tackles and put in significant hits.”
A delayed departure to South America presented logistical challenges, but Roos affirmed the team’s adaptability. “We adapted our training schedule, the team doctor adjusted our sleeping schedule and we accepted that the delay was out of our hands. So we arrived in a good space, had a good training session and will be ready on Saturday.”
The team was able to watch the Blitzboks’ victory over Fiji in the final of the HSBC SVNS Latest York while in transit, a performance that served as inspiration. “The Blitzboks really inspired us – we watched the final and that was special,” Roos said. “The way they stayed in the fight in that last minute to keep Fiji out was true to the core of our sevens system and we want to do the same when in a similiar situation. That was a good case study of how the system will look after you if you stick to it and trust it. We want to do the same this weekend. It was a case of the winner takes it all and they had the will power to outlast Fiji.”
Maceala Samboya and Shanidiné Bezuidenhout are poised to make their debuts for the Springbok Women’s Sevens this weekend.
Springbok Women’s Sevens fixtures (SA times, all matches live on SuperSport):
- Saturday 21 March 16h23: Spain
- Saturday 21 March 18h46: China
- Saturday 21 March 21h36: Brazil
- Sunday 22 March 19h23: Kenya
- Sunday 22 March 22h39: Argentina
Springbok Women’s Sevens squad for Montevideo:
- #3 Patience Mokone
- #7 Maria Tshiremba
- #9 Nadine Roos (captain)
- #10 Byrhandré Dolf
- #12 Liske Lategan
- #14 Simamkele Namba
- #16 Shiniqwa Lamprecht
- #19 Shanidiné Bezuidenhout (uncapped)
- #20 Catha Jacobs
- #23 Ayanda Malinga
- #26 Lerato Makua
- #27 Maceala Samboya (uncapped)
- #28 Shannon-Lee Windvogel
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