Springbok Women’s Sevens recall big shots for Perth

The Springbok Women’s Sevens side 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.

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Zintle 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 Eloise Webb, whose first taste of World Series action was in 2017, will make her first appearance in the Springbok Women’s Sevens’ 2024 series campaign, 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 Springbok Women’s Sevens boss explained.

“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.”

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Dazel said he hopes the way the team has 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 quarter-finals after the pool stage,” Dazel said.

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Springbok Women’s Sevens playing schedule (SA times):

Friday 26 January
09h28: Australia
14h04: Canada

Saturday 27 January
05h32: Great Britain

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