There is no doubt that the pressure will be on the Springbok Women’s Sevens side in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series at Athlone Stadium on 1-2 March.
The Challenger Series will be used to determine the top four teams that will battle it for qualification for next season's World SVNS Series, so the pressure that comes with that doesn’t only apply to the Springbok Women’s Sevens side; all teams will be feeling the heat.
But, seeing as Renfred Dazel’s team were crowned champions of the first Sevens Challenger Series after winning both tournaments in 2023 in Stellenbosch, they will certainly be a focus.
And then, of course, there’s also the added pressure that comes with home-ground advantage.
The first two of three Challenger tournaments will be hosted in the Mother City on the weekends of 1-2 and 7-8 March, with 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams battling it out for SVNS spots. The competing men’s and women’s teams qualified via regional competitions. South Africa booked their place in the tournament when they won the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens title in Ghana in November 2024.
The four men’s and women’s teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three Challenger Series rounds will then qualify for the SVNS promotion/relegation play-offs in Los Angeles on 3-4 May, where they will face the bottom-four ranked teams from the 2025 World SVNS Series. Four World Series places are up for grabs.
Thrilling Do-or-Die Format
The first two rounds of the Challenger Series will replicate the competition format used for the SVNS Cape Town tournament in December 2024. This sees the four pool winners progress directly to contest the semi-finals, while second-placed teams will play for fifth to eighth places, and teams finishing third in their pools will compete for ninth to twelfth positions.
While the first Challenger Series was a memorable one for South Africa as they gained qualification to the 2024 World SVNS Series, that memory also serves as a reminder of just how short-lived success can be as they went on to lose their status as a SVNS core team to China at the play-off tournament in Madrid last year.
So, they will need no reminding that consistency is crucial this time around, especially with such a big year ahead.
South Africa’s experience can be key
Despite the pressure, the one thing, however, that the South Africans can be confident about is their experience.
The Bok Women's Sevens will contest Hong Kong China and Czechia in Pool A on Saturday for a place in Sunday's semi-finals. Out of their whole squad, only three players did not feature in the World Series last season.
South Africa's most experienced women's sevens player Mathrin Simmers will lead the squad featuring only two uncapped players. Simmers will be joined by five other teammates who played in the 2023 Challenger Series in Stellenbosch - Rights Mkhari, Zintle Mpupha, Kemisetso Baloyi, Nadine Roos, and Ayanda Malinga were all part of that group.
Challenger pools:
- Pool A: South Africa, Czechia, Hong Kong China;
- Pool B Argentina, Thailand, Mexico;
- Pool C: Belgium, Uganda, Colombia;
- Pool D: Poland, Kenya, Samoa
SA fixtures
Saturday, March 1:
- 15h55: Hong Kong China;
- 19h36: Czechia
Springbok Women Sevens squad for the opening tournament of the Challenger Series: Leigh Fortuin, Zintle Mpupha, Felicia Jacobs, Maria Tshiremba, Kayla Swarts *, Nadine Roos, Mathrin Simmers (captain), Kemisetso Baloyi, Shiniqwa Lamprecht, Ayanda Malinga, Alicia Willemse *, Rights Mkhari.
* uncapped
