Catha Jacobs: 'I decided that, for now, I want to get stuck in'

Catha Jacobs’ return to the Springbok Women’s Sevens programme was about as unexpected as they come.

This weekend as HSBC SVNS 2 lands in Montevideo for the first of two South America legs, the 27-year-old will make her first appearance for South Africa in a rugby sevens shirt since 2019.

Cecil Afrika’s team will further their case for a top four finish in the second tier competition. Last time out in Nairobi, the Springbok Women finished second in the round robin tournament behind Argentina’s Las Yaguaretés at the end of two days action in the Kenyan capital.

Across Saturday and Sunday, Jacobs and her teammates will take on Spain, China, Brazil, Kenya and Argentina before travelling to São Paulo for the final SVNS 2 tournament of the season.

Finishing in the top four of the overall standings will secure teams with a place at HSBC SVNS World Championship events in Hong Kong, Valladolid and Bordeaux. There a place on the HSBC SVNS Series can be gained and Jacobs is now along for the ride.

It has been nearly seven years since Jacobs last took part in a 14-minute match. But what sparked her comeback? Well, like anything else, it started with a phone call.

“I was at the airport to fly to Cape Town because we [Golden Lions Women] had a game against Western Province,” Jacobs told RugbyPass.

“While checking my bags in I got a phone call that said, what time can you be at the airport on Sunday because you’re coming into sevens camp.

“I was at the airport already, flying to Cape Town, so I just stayed behind after playing for the Lions and came into camp.

“It was very unexpected. I didn’t plan to come back to sevens. But I am very glad I’m here now. It’s going to help me grow my rugby.”

There is a sense of good fortune surrounding Jacobs’ return to the Springbok Women. For the past four years she has spent her time with Premiership Women’s Rugby clubs Saracens and Leicester Tigers.

Back in South Africa to play for the Golden Lions Women in Pick n Pay Women’s Super League 1 ahead of a new professional women’s rugby competition launching in the country this year, her intention upon returning home was to pursue 15-a-side rugby. All of a sudden days playing rugby on the Highveld have been traded for weekend trips to South America, Asia and Europe.

“It’s very exciting – I am really looking forward to it,” Jacobs said. “Bringing some of my 15s skills over to sevens will help me because I haven’t played this level of rugby [for some time].

“I’m going to take it as it comes. I don’t want to think about it too much because I’ll probably be a bit in my own head. I can’t wait. It’s a very full calendar. I should cancel all my vacation plans.”

 

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The last time Jacobs wore a South Africa shirt of any kind was at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup as the Springboks exited the tournament with a heroic quarter-final loss to New Zealand’s Black Ferns.

Every step of the team’s four week stay in England was historic. No South Africa women’s rugby side had gone beyond the group stage. Upon their exit SA Rugby have reaffirmed, highlighted and underlined their commitment to women’s rugby in the country.

A professional domestic competition is just part of that. By the time the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup comes around in Australia there is hope that that the team will be even more competitive.

This year the Springbok Women will play the USA Women’s Eagles in a two-Test series this July and will host the Black Ferns at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg as part of a Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry doubleheader.

Outside of Women’s Rugby World Cups the two teams have never met. Last August the Boks did beat a Black Ferns XV team in Cape Town.

In the weeks that followed Jacobs and her teammates went about showcasing Springboks Women’s rugby to the world. Wins against Brazil and Italy were enough to secure a knockout rugby spot.

They pushed New Zealand hard at Sandy Park. At half-time of the quarter-final loss the scoreboard read 10-10 before six second half tries for the Black Ferns sent the six-time world champions through to the final four.

Even though it was a campaign that ended in defeat, the contrast to a winless tournament just three years prior was stark.

“For most of us that was our second World Cup,” Jacobs said. “We knew we had an opportunity there. Going into that second World Cup, we knew we had a really big opportunity to perform.

“Luckily, we got the results we really wanted to. I think if we didn’t go to the World Cup and perform, a lot of stuff in South Africa would have gone backwards instead of forwards.

“It was our opportunity to go out there and show that we’ve been working together as a group for so long. It was make or break at that tournament.”

 

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The end of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup also marked the end of Jacobs’ time in England. For now at least.

Her time with Saracens in PWR came was somewhat unexpected. At the end of 2021, while on tour with Springbok Women the lock had her talent spotted in a Test against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park. Yet again, she stayed on in the United Kingdom.

Two seasons in the East Midlands with Leicester Tigers came before the decision to come home.

So much as the 27-year-old has returned home to escape frostbitten British winters and the bonus of southern hemisphere sun, the chance to be at the coalface of South Africa’s rise as an international and domestic rugby force.

“I really enjoyed my time in England, and I played in the best women’s league in the world,” Jacobs said. “I played a lot of good rugby surrounded by the best, but I was ready to come home and be closer to family.

“Women’s rugby in South Africa is growing. The last four years I’ve been in England, but every time in between I’d come home and play for the Springboks.

“Every time I’d come home, my parents are here, I’ve missed a lot of friends’ weddings and stuff like that. I was missing the sun.

“South Africa women’s rugby is just growing at such a fast pace – especially after the World Cup – so I decided that, for now, I want to get stuck in.

“I learnt a lot in England and I would really like to give back to the sport that has given me so much over the past few years.”