SA face learning experience in Toulouse

SURE, results matter, but if there’s another thing the Springbok Women’s Sevens team want to do when they play at the Toulouse leg of the World Sevens Series next weekend, it’s to learn.

South Africa will join the tournament – the last one in the current season – as an invitational team. They are ranked bottom out of the 12 competing sides.

Paul Delport’s side are in for a tough weekend in France with Australia, USA and Fiji awaiting in pool play.

The Springbok Women’s Sevens side have a packed calendar with the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup Sevens coming up.

While they won the Africa Sevens title in Tunisia earlier this month, they need no reminding that there is still a lot of room for growth for the group, which features seven players who have never played in the Series.

“The African Cup set a good platform for us to see where we’re at internationally; it was also our first tournament playing international rugby again. I think we’re in a good space heading to France,” said Nadine Roos, who is one of the more experienced players in the group.

“It’s a learning curve for us. It is the last leg of the World Series for the women and they have played for a while, but we’re going into this knowing it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be good for us to experience that and see where we need to work harder to be ready for the World Cup.”

“I don’t think this tournament could’ve come at a better time. It’s the last leg and any other team could have got this invitation, but now we get the chance to see where we need fine-tuning ahead of the Commonwealth Games and the other tournaments.”

“I want to pass my experience and knowledge of the game on to the youngsters…so they can know what it takes to play in the World Series.

“I would like us to improve as a team and see where we can fine-tune things. I think one thing we lacked at the African Cup was staying consistent. We were up and down and couldn’t find our rhythm, so we need to work on that as a team.”

Captain Sizophila Solontsi also underlined the importance of learning for the green squad.

“Going into the France tournament, the fact that we’ve already achieved one objective gives a bit of a booster in terms of confidence with the team,” she said.

“It’s definitely going to be tough, we understand that, but we’re focused on the learning aspect of it. We’ll be playing the No 1 team in the world. We will learn more than anything.

“As captain, I would like for the team to learn… learn about ourselves and our game and how we handle pressure. I obviously want us to do our best as well, I want them to enjoy themselves as well.”

Delport named only 12 players in his squad, but a 13th player will be added before departure to France tomorrow. Three players have been shortlisted.