Bok Women’s Sevens advance to Dubai Cup quarter-finals
The Springbok Women’s Sevens will face New Zealand in the Cup quarter-final of the Dubai World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series on Friday despite suffering defeats against Australia and Russia in the pool stages on Thursday.
The Springbok Women’s Sevens suffered a disappointing 38-5 defeat against Olympic Games gold medallists and 2015/2016 World Series champions, Australia, in their opening match on Thursday, but they bounced back strongly to defeat the USA 26-7 before going down 19-14 against Russia in their final match of the day.
Australia scored three first-half tries against Veroeshka Grain’s side to take a 19-0 lead at the break and added three more after play resumed. The only points scored by the Springbok Women’s Sevens, meanwhile, were compliments of a late try by speedster Phumeza Gadu in the 13th minute.
Grain’s charges, however, were in fine form against the USA, with Gadu scoring the first of the team’s four tries two minutes into the match. The USA hit back with a try of their own to level the scores at 7-7, but Marithy Pienaar added their second try seven minutes later, which pushed the team into a 14-7 halftime lead.
Two tries by Nadine Roos, who is one of four World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series debutants in the squad, after the break handed the team a 26-7 lead, while they produced a solid defensive effort to shut out the USA and secure the victory.
The team replicated this determination in their final match of the day against Russia, but a try in the dying minutes by the opposition saw them go down 19-14.
Russia opened up the scoring with a try in the first minute, but Roos touched down minutes later for her third try of the day to push South Africa 7-5 ahead on the scoreboard going into the break.
Russia struck again after the break, but veteran Bok Women’s Sevens player Mathrin Simmers crossed the line for the team’s second try to take a 14-12 lead. Unfortunately, their hopes of a victory were dashed as Russia scored their third try on the stroke of full-time.
Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Renfred Dazel took the positives out of their performances on the first day of the tournament and said: “After going down against Australia in the opening game the girls lifted their game to beat the USA, and we almost defeated Russia, but our decision-making let us down in the end. I think the team did pretty well and I am happy with their performance.
“It is a big achievement to qualify for the quarter-finals because we played on the circuit a year-and-a-half ago and we never managed to secure a quarter-final berth. We are looking forward to tomorrow and I am really glad that we have another shot (to possibly win the competition).”
Dazel attributed the team’s vastly improved form to their conditioning and said if they could build on this form from a physical and mental perspective, they could become a strong team.
“I must give credit to our conditioning coach Johnno Meintjies,” said Dazel. “He achieved a lot with the players in the last two seasons.
“I believe the more our younger players feature in tournaments such as these, the better we will become, and hopefully we will have a good squad by the time we play in the World Series qualifier next year.”
Bok Women’s Sevens day-one results, Dubai Women’s Sevens Series (Thursday, 1 December):
SA 5 – 38 Australia
SA 26 – 7 USA
SA 14 – 19 Russi
Bok Women’s Sevens day-two fixtures (Friday, 2 December – SA Time):
07h00 – SA vs New Zealand (Cup quarter-final)
Issued by SA Rugby Communications
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