The exposure of playing in the HSBC SVNS 2024 season has benefitted the Springbok Women’s Sevens team tremendously and although it has not always shown in the results, the improvement of the team has been real and heartwarming.
That is the view of South Africa’s Nadine Roos, one the standouts on the circuit and arguably the team’s most influential player this season. Roos is in Singapore with her rest of the squad where the seventh of eight world series tournaments will be held this weekend.
Reflecting on the season, Roos said their growth as a squad since joining the series as a core team, will benefit them in future.
“I have no doubt that the best is yet to come,” said Roos.
“We are growing every tournament, adding something to our play and ability every time we are out there. It will come together soon. The team have grown, and individual players have grown, and it is coming together.”
Roos believes it will happen at the last tournament in Madrid at the end of May, where the Springbok Women’s Sevens will be involved in a play-off series with seven other teams to secure their status for next season.
“Without looking too far ahead, I am confident that we will do well in that tournament,” she said. “Having said that, we must use our opportunities here in Singapore to build momentum.”
The lack of executing scoring opportunities bas plagued the Bok Women Sevens this season, with Roos at times the sole try scorer at tournaments, but she feels they can improve this weekend.
South Africa will face USA, France and Japan in a tough pool with all previous encounters this season going the way of the opposition. Their only victories came against Fiji, Great Britain, Spain (twice) and Brazil so far, but they would like to add to that in the National Stadium in Singapore this weekend.
“We need to finish off better to achieve our goal of getting into the quarter-finals this weekend, and we need to be more patient on attack and have a bit of fun in doing so,” added Roos.
For Simamkele Namba, in her first season as a regular HSBC SVNS player, the improvement is real. She has scored two tries in the sixth tournaments played in the season.
“It is my first full season as a sevens player, so I am happy with my progress, especially as I have improved a lot on attack,” said the 25-year-old speedster.
“We all bring something to the team, and I am happy that my attacking play is causing problems for other teams.”
Namba, who represented the Springbok Women as an outside back at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand two years ago, said they believe they can still secure good results in the remainder of the season: “It is coming together; we can feel it. That gives everyone motivation to work even harder as things are falling in place.”
Delirium
New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia are the most successful teams in the history of the Rugby World Cup, with each country winning the tournament three times. New Zealand claimed the title in 1987, 2011, and 2015, while South Africa was victorious in 1995, 2007, and 2019. Australia won the tournament in 1991 and 1999.
Winter Underdog
The fastest cricket pitch ever recorded was thrown by Shoaib Akhtar during the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He clocked in at 100.23 mph (161.3 km/h) during a match with England. Akhtar’s feat made him the first cricket bowler to reach 100 mph and he did this twice during his storied career. He earned the nickname “The Rawalpindi Express” for his impressive pitches.