The benefits of playing in a highly competitive tournament outweighs the disappointment of the results for the Springbok Women's Sevens ‘A’ side that returned from Nairobi, Kenya on Monday, according to team coach Cecil Afrika.
A sixth-place finish was not what was expected as they went there to win, Afrika said of the Rugby Africa Women's Sevens tournament, where Uganda won to qualify for HSBC SVNS 3.
“It was definitely a mixed bag of results,” said Afrika.
“The team performed within the range of anticipated outcomes if you consider that this was their first experience at such a level. The ladies gained real-time experience in the tournament, which allowed them to better understand demands of the game which is different to training where you can run it back if errors are made.”
Afrika said despite being a young squad, they showed a lot of character and fight, something the management wanted to see this past weekend: “There were big moments that we lost where the result went the other way. Those are hard lessons, but more importantly, valuable lessons.”
The players were exposed to altitude, which is something they have never had to deal with before, and overall, Afrika said the experience was positive.
“There was massive growth even though it’s not necessarily on the scoreboard,” he said.
“Some of the players really put up their hands for the wider training squad in the future and this was a perfect opportunity to recognise those players as we don’t get a lot of game time. The matches we lost were quite close and the games we won were quite comfortable. Overall, it was a positive weekend for us.”
Afrika added that the messages of support were much appreciated: “Thank you to all avid sevens enthusiasts, family and friends supporting us, always. That means a lot.”
The South Africans finished the tournament with a 17-12 defeat to Zambia in the fifth-place final on Sunday, while they also started the day poorly by losing 24-17 against Uganda in the quarter-finals. Their only success on day two came in the fifth-place semi-final, where they outplayed Mauritius by 48-0.
On the opening day in their Pool A fixtures, the South Africans outplayed Rwanda 57-0 and Zimbabwe 26-10, but lost 14-19 to Zambia in their final match of the day, conceding a late try to suffer their first defeat of the day.
Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga scored from the kick-off in their opener against Rwanda, with the rest of the team dotting down with regular intervals for an easy first win.
Against Zimbabwe, good attacking plays dictated the result, but against Zambia in the final game on Saturday, they held a 14-0 lead before allowing their opponents a come-from-behind win.
In the quarter-finals on Sunday, it was a slow start for Cecil Afrika’s team and although they came back well against the Ugandans, they never looked like winners.
The match against Mauritius was much better as they kept the ball well, but their second defeat to Zambia will not go down well for the squad. They held a 12-0 lead and the Zambians had a player red-carded, but the inexperience of the group in closing out matches was clear and they could not seal the result.
Hayley Hardneck was the leading points’ scorer for the South Africans, with 41 from three tries and 13 conversions. Her Boland teammate Kabuika-Ilunga scored six tries, followed by team captain, Vianca Boer, who dotted down five times.
Springbok Women’s Sevens ‘A’ scorers:
Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 14 (14), Zambia 19 (12)
Tries: Vianca Boer (2). Conversions: Hayley Hardneck (2).
Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 26 (14), Zimbabwe 10 (5)
Tries: Lilitha Vakalisa, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga, Shanidiné Bezuidenhout, Siphumelele Mdlalose. Conversions: Hayley Hardneck (3).
Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 57 (33), Rwanda 0 (0)
Tries: Jané Mulder (2), Isabella Nel, Vianca Boer, Hayley Hardneck (2), Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga, Siphumelele Mdlalose, Marli George. Conversions: George (2), Hardneck (4).
Quarter-final: Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 17 (7), Uganda 24 (17)
Tries: Isabella Nel, Vianca Boer, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga. Conversion: Hayley Hardneck.
Fifth-place semi-final: Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 48 (17), Mauritius 0 (0)
Tries: Isabella Nel, Lilitha Vakalisa, Hayley Hardneck, Jané Mulder, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga (2), Siphumelele Mdlalose, Voice Ndou. Conversions: Marli George (2), Hardneck (2).
Fifth-place final: Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 12 (12), Zambia 17 (0)
Tries: Vianca Boer, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga. Conversion: Hayley Hardneck.
