Stadler on debut for SA Select team in Dubai
Western Province 2015 Women’s Rugby Player of the Year Chané Stadler will make her first appearance for the SA Select team in the Emirates Airlines Dubai Rugby Sevens from 4 to 6 December after being named in Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Renfred Dazel’s 12-member squad on Friday.
With the competition being an invitational event, the team will be called the SA Select team, rather than the Springbok Women’s Sevens.
Stadler was one of three new faces in the squad, with the others being Nomsa Mokwai and Lamla Momoti from the Leopards and Border rugby unions respectively.
All three players were called up to the Springbok Sevens training squad following their impressive performances at the SARU Interprovincial Sevens tournament in Nelspruit earlier this month. Stadler joined the squad at their training base in Stellenbosch on Monday, while Mokwai and Momoti joined the team on Friday (today).
Fortunately for coach Dazel, Momoti was a member of the Springbok Women’s Sevens team that won the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens tournament in Kenya in 2013, while Momoti was a member of the Springbok Women’s 2014 Rugby World Cup squad and she played in the 2013/2014 Amsterdam World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, so they understand the pressures of international sport.
They will join a group of experienced campaigners including Phumeza Gadu, Veroeshka Grain and Lorinda Brown in the squad.
The SA Select team will face team the Canada Maple Leafs, Belgium Rugby Sevens and the Tabusoro Angels International in the pool stages of the tournament and the Sevens Stadium.
“It is fantastic to welcome Chané to squad for the first time, and it is exciting to have Nomsa and Lamla back in the group,” said Dazel. “These players really impressed me at the SARU Sevens tournament and I hope that they can replicate that solid form and enthusiasm on the field in Dubai. Chané has been training with us since Monday, and she is learning fast, so I am confident she will be familiar with the patters by the team we take to the field in Dubai, while Nomsa and Lamla have been in the set-up before so we expect them to slot in quickly.
“Unfortunately a few players such as Fundiswa Plaatjie and Jacqueline Kriel were not available for selection due to injury, but this has presented us with a great opportunity to offer other talented players a chance to show us what they can do, and I have no doubt they will make the most of this opportunity.”
The team will depart for Dubai on Sunday, 29 November.
SA Select team for Dubai Rugby Sevens:
Lorinda Brown
Phumeza Gadu
Rachelle Geldenhuys
Nosiphiwo Goda
Veroeshka Grain
Zenay Jordaan
Nomsa Mokwai
Lamla Momoti
Sinazo Nobele
Marithy Pienaar
Mathrin Simmers
Chané Stadler
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