The Springbok Women’s Sevens team completed their mission on the opening day at the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Stellenbosch on Friday by staying undefeated, but that is now done and dusted and the next job, to do the same on the second day of the tournament at Markötter Stadium, starts now.
That was the view of the Bok Women Sevens playmaker Nadine Roos after their pool victories against Paraguay and Madagascar.
Roos said the focus now shifts to Thailand, their final Pool D opponent, who they face at 11h32 on Saturday morning. However, because of other results in the pool, the South Africans have already qualified for the Cup quarterfinals.
“We now start the next job, which is Thailand and once that is completed, we will look at the quarterfinal opponent and plan accordingly”, said Roos, who scored tries in both matches on Friday.
She lamented the slow start against Madagascar, which saw their African counterparts take an early lead before a brace by Roos and a good team try by Simamkele Namba created daylight between the two sides.
Roos said: “I don’t know why we always start slow against them (Madagascar), the same happened last weekend. It is not something we can afford or need, we have to be at our best from the start.”
A strong second half saw the expected domination by the team in green and gold.
“That is how it should be,” said Roos.
“I believe individually, our players outmatch them, yet we struggle at times. The nice part of closing out the day was the fight we showed. Everyone in that team was fighting hard to put them away and that is very encouraging. On Saturday, that is an exciting prospect.”
The Springbok Women's Sevens team started the second tournament in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series with a commanding performance against Paraguay to win by 29-0, but in the second match, the South Africans had to work hard to beat Madagascar by 19-5.
The South Africans scored five tries in their opening match at the Markötter Stadium, with Ayanda Malinga grabbing a first-half brace. Roos converted one of Malinga's tries and also crossed for a five-pointer to hand the host nation a 17-0 lead at the break.
Zintle Mpupha and Zandile Masuku scored in the second half, with Roos adding one more conversion to seal the deal.
Madagascar scored the first try of the match when Ginah Raharimalala capitalised on some missed tackles from the South Africans, and to add insult to injury, Sizophila Solontsi was yellow carded for a late tackle in the same movement.
It took the Bok Women a few minutes to find their groove and when they did, Roos scored her second try of the day with a sniping run from the back of a ruck to make it 5-5 at the break.
Simamkele Namba scored the second try of the match after a superb run by Mathrin Simmers, and Roos added the conversion to make it a seven-point game at 12-5, before the Bok playmaker got her brace at the end of the match and then added a touchline conversion to seal the 19-5 victory.