The California dream might be over before it began for the Springbok Women's Sevens team, but they are still determined to play the hand that was dealt to them this weekend at the HSBC SVNS Play-off tournament at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles.
World Rugby announced on Thursday that the HSBC SVNS format will change for the next season and that only eight teams will participate in each gender, making it impossible for the South African side to join their Blitzbok counterparts in the elite competition.
A second-tier series with three tournaments was introduced and Renfred Dazel’s team will now target that to maintain their momentum and standing in the world game.
For the Springbok Women's Sevens head coach, the late confirmation of the new season's format can still be processed with a strong showing on the weekend, despite the extra pressure created by the announcement. This means that only a top-four finish will secure their place in the second-tier tournament and failure to do so will force them to the regional qualifications route again.
“It does change the temperature in the room as there is funding from World Rugby involved and if we don't get into the tier two, that might be at risk,” said Dazel.
“Having said that, we came here with clear objectives on how to perform on the field, and that has not changed. We came here to win the play-off tournament, and that mission remains. If we manage that, it will be tier two, but that is next season's planning.”
WON'T MAKE SAME MISTAKES
The South Africans lost their world series core status in Madrid last year and according to Dazel, valuable lessons were learned then, which will be applied in their pool matches against Ireland, China and Argentina.
“We know what we did wrong last time around and will not make the same mistakes again,” he said.
“We have learned from those experiences and are all aware and excited about the task at hand. We had a good session against Canada earlier in the week, and that boosted our confidence as well."
Dazel said the fact that they played all three opponents before will help in their planning: “You need to top your pool and that takes you into the semifinals and the top four, so the three pool matches are critical for us.
“We want to focus on Ireland and set the standard for the next match. We played them before and were competitive, bar a lapse or two and that cost us. We are breaking up this match by minutes. We want to make sure we win every minute and play. If we do, the result will be ours.”
Defence will hold the key against China. “They play a lot like Japan – they keep the ball alive, do their swivels, play their deep switches, that is China for you. Our defence will be key in that game as I believe our attack is our strong suit and will bring the points, but then we must not concede.”
Dazel said the recent victories over Argentina, as recent as last month in Krakow, will also act as pointers for their final pool match: “We played Argentina twice and beat them both times, the last time in the Krakow final, so we have our plans for that match. But first things first, and that will be Ireland.”
Springbok Women’s Sevens Pool B schedule (SA times, all matches live on SuperSport):
Saturday, 3 May
7:44pm: Ireland
11:07pm: China
Sunday, 4 May
7pm: Argentina
Springbok Women's Sevens team (with 2025 Challenger Series stats):
#1 Leigh Fortuin – 2 tournaments, 0 points
#3 Patience Mokone – 1 tournament, 5 points (1 try)
#4 Zintle Mpupha – 3 tournaments, 30 points (6 tries)
#6 Felicia Jacobs – 2 tournaments, 10 points (2 tries)
#7 Maria Tshiremba – 3 tournaments, 55 points (11 tries)
#9 Nadine Roos – 3 tournaments, 154 points (18 tries, 32 conversions)
#10 Mathrin Simmers (captain) – 3 tournaments, 5 points (1 try)
#11 Zandile Masuku – 1 tournament, 0 points
#14 Simamkele Namba – 0 tournaments
#16 Shiniqwa Lamprecht – 3 tournaments, 15 points (3 tries)
#23 Ayanda Malinga – 3 tournaments, 50 points (10 tries)
#27 Alicia Willemse – 2 tournaments, 2 points (1 conversion)
#29 Rights Mkhari – 3 tournaments, 10 points (2 tries)