Jacobs to make Springbok Sevens return at SVNS 2 stops in South America

Catha Jacobs is set to make her first Springbok Women’s Sevens appearance in seven years next week in Montevideo.

On Friday morning Cecil Afrika announced the 14 player squad that will travel to South America for the final two rounds of their HSBC SVNS 2 campaign.

Last time out in Kenya the side placed second and will want two more podium finishes in Uruguay and Brazil. A top four finish will secure teams with a place at HSBC SVNS World Championship events in Hong Kong, Valladolid and Bordeaux.

Jacobs’ last appearance for the Springbok Women’s Sevens came at the 2019 Series event in Cape Town. In the years since, the 27-year-old has become something of a XVs specialist and returned back to South Africa after helping her nation to a Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final and time in Premiership Women’s Rugby.

There are also potential debuts for Maceala Samboya and Shanidiné Bezuidenhout in South America. Bezuidenhout is a recent convert to rugby after having previously starred for Stellenbosch University in netball.

“Catha is physical and has a good presence on the field, while Maceala is a very special player, very elusive with fast feet,” said Afrika.

“Shanidiné is new to sevens rugby, but she is a quick learner and has very good skills carried over from her netball days. They slotted in well with the rest of the squad and I think we have a good and balanced team travelling.”

In Montevideo the team – who are captained by back-to-back SA Rugby Women’s Player of the Year, Nadine Roos – will play Spain, China, Brazil, Kenya and Argentina across two days.

“We also opened against Spain in Kenya and our attitude will be the same – we will focus on them and make sure we get the good start we want,” said Afrika.

“We looked at areas of improvement and worked on those. Our restarts were poor in Kenya and we did not finish enough opportunities when we were on attack in our opponents’ half.”

Springbok Women’s Sevens squad for Montevideo and São Paulo

2 Asisipho Plaatjies
3 Patience Mokone
7 Maria Tshiremba
9 Nadine Roos (C)
10 Byrhandré Dolf
12 Liske Lategan
14 Simamkele Namba
16 Shiniqwa Lamprecht
19 Shanidiné Bezuidenhout (uncapped)
20 Catha Jacobs
23 Ayanda Malinga
26 Lerato Makua
27 Maceala Samboya (uncapped)
28 Shannon-Lee Windvogel