Eloise Webb: 'My immediate instinct was to opt out'

Eloise Webb revealed that she nearly turned down the Springbok Women’s Sevens when she was asked to join the team for the HSBC SVNS World Championship.

The versatile 30-year-old is one of the most experienced players in Cecil Afrika’s squad for the Bordeaux tournament as a veteran of two Women’s Rugby World Cup campaigns and of two Rugby World Cup Sevens tournaments.

Called into the Springbok Women’s Sevens for World Championship events in Hong Kong, Valladolid and Bordeaux, Webb admitted to that the pain of missing out on selection for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris almost meant she said no to Afrika’s request to help lessen the blow of an injury crisis.

“The call to join the squad for Hong Kong was unexpected and my immediate instinct was to opt out, not only because of what happened in 2024 and Olympic rejection, but also because I know how taxing sevens is on the body,” Webb said.

“I was training for a season of fifteens and to suddenly be called into a sevens regime was not what I anticipated or prepared for.

“The load on your body is just so much different, and we had just finished the Super League [Pick n Pay Women’s Super League 1], which was demanding as well.”

After tournaments in Hong Kong and Valladolid, South Africa are 10th in the 12 team standings. A top eight finish can secure the Women’s Sevens a place on the HSBC SVNS Series for next season.

This weekend South Africa have been placed in Pool A with France, New Zealand and Argentina.

“For this trip we were much better prepared than Hong Kong and I was much better prepared,” Webb said.

“As a team, we really played for each other and for me those bad memories of not being wanted washed away.

“Yes, we made mistakes and at times played against ourselves, but there is this thing in our game – when we fight the odds together, it is beautiful.”