Experienced duo return for Springbok Women’s Sevens

Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Renfred Dazel has welcomed back experienced campaigners Eloise Webb and Zintle Mpupha for the third tournament in the 2024 HSBC SVNS, to be played at HBF Park in Perth, Western Australia next weekend.

South Africa will face hosts and series leaders Australia, Canada and Great Britain in Pool A of the tournament, which kicks off next Friday and concludes on Sunday.

Mpupha, who made her World Series debut in 2014, has recovered from the head knock sustained in Dubai last year that ruled her out of the Cape Town tournament, while Webb, whose first taste of World Series action was in 2017, will make her first appearance in the 2024 series, having missed both tournaments so far due to an ankle injury.

There will be no Rights Mkhari though, as the knee injury she sustained in Cape Town has ruled her out for the remainder of the season.

“It is great to have two of the senior players back for Perth as this will be an important tournament for us,” said Dazel.

“We learned some valuable lessons in Dubai and especially in Cape Town, where we just could not get going. Eloise brings good experience, and her play-making ability will give us more options on attack, while Zintle’s physicality on both defence and attack makes us a tougher opponent to play against.

“The fact that the tournament will be played over three days, instead of two, will help us as we will be in a better position to manage the pace and intensity the core teams have developed over the last couple of seasons.

“We found that we battled with doubling up our effort in Dubai the next weekend in Cape Town, and as this is a standalone tournament, we will be looking to sustain our effort over all three days.”

Dazel hopes the way the team have been preparing will lead to reward next weekend: “We really worked hard since 3 January and were tested by the Stellenbosch heat. The players also learned from the first two tournaments and what works for us and what not. We had good time to work on those shortcomings and will leave for Perth a fit, balanced, and confident team.”

Dazel said the fact that the pools were only announced a week ago, means that there was less time for analysis, but they have played all three pool opponents in either Dubai or Cape Town, so they will travel to Perth with a good idea of what to expect.

“A good performance in Perth is important for us in our stated mission to finish in the top eight and to be able to do that, we need to make sure we qualify for the quarterfinals after the pool stage,” Dazel said.

Playing schedule (SA times):

Friday 26 January

09h28: Australia

14h04: Canada

Saturday 27 January

05h32: Great Britain

Springbok Women’s Sevens squad for Perth (with HSBC SVNS caps and points):

Forwards:

#4 ?Zintle Mpupha (co-captain) - 6 tournaments; 40 points (8 tries)

#14 Simamkele Namba - 3 tournaments; 5 points (1 try)

#12 Liske Lategan - 5 tournaments; 10 points (2 tries)

#20 ?Kyla de Vries - 2 tournaments; 0 points