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South Africa women stun GB to win first pool game on SVNS Series
It was a simple question, really, but one that had to be asked. “How proud are you” was the question thrown Nadine Roos’ way after South Africa’s history-making pool stage win on the SVNS Series.
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Roos smiled. It almost answered the question before another word was spoken.
South Africa, who won World Rugby’s Challenger Series last year to gain promotion to the top tier of sevens, have shown plenty of promise, fight and determination during the season so far.
The Springbok Women came close to what would’ve been an incredible win over reigning world champions the Black Ferns Sevens in Dubai, and they’ve also impressed in other matches.
But wins have remained out of reach. Other than a win over Spain in Dubai’s ninth-place semi-final, South Africa had failed to register another result in their favour – until now.
Playing against giants layers Great Britain on a scorching Saturday morning on Australia’s west coast, South Africa held on for a stunning 14-12 victory.
The players celebrated as expected on the field, and they continued to enjoy the historic moment as they walked off the field and up the tunnel at HBF Park.
“It’s our second win, we had a win in Dubai, but it’s our first pool game win so it’s a massive one for us,” South Africa’s Nadine Roos told RugbyPass.
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“The victory is really much needed for us as a team and that will give us confidence going forward in this tournament.
“This gives us confidence but still channel it the right way and not be overconfident for the next game,” she added when asked about what was said during the team huddle.
“It’s a good, positive one for us as we lacked a bit of yesterday, day one – that energy transferring from warmup into the game. Now finally we got that right.
“We want to see how we can go forward on that energy and thrive and live off that energy on the field.”
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Great Britain would’ve been supremely confident after defeating hosts Australia on Friday afternoon – the SVNS Series leaders’ first loss of the 2023/24 campaign.
Jasmine Joyce opened the scoring against South Africa in the second minute, and the team traded tries to finish with two each.
But the difference was Nadine Roos.
Roos converted Simakele Namba and Maria Tshiremba’s tries, while one of Great Britain’s attempts was unsuccessful, to see the Springbok Women win by two points.
“We knew GB was probably going to be very confident after last night so we knew they’re going to come into this game very confident,” Roos said.
“We knew with this heat, this is Stellenbosch heat, we live for this heat.
“Just the fight we showed out there for each other, for the system, and that’s what it means for the system, that win also means so much to the system and it shows what we are capable of as a team and that we can be competitive against these teams on the World Series.”
It wasn’t their “first” pool stage win, and the players didn’t celebrate as they did after the victory over Great Britain, but South Africa doubled down with another good result against Spain.
Roos scored what ended up being the match-winner for South Africa in the 9th place semi-final.
Comments on RugbyPass
Well you’ve made a proper tit of yourself, haven’t you! 😂
173 Go to commentsBen it's beyond their comprehension-
202 Go to commentsThanks Sam. Interesting read. Harder or easier for Parling to come into a completely new setup where performance was abysmal last time out? I’d suggest easier to be better but, as you suggest, will be a lot to do with how much latitude he’s granted. Hopefully all he needs. With hybrids like Holloway, Hannigan, Swinton and Leota as options at 6 we have the basics for a strong lineout. BPA returning means we have good options at 2 also with Faessler, Porecki and Uelese, although Jordan is a scrumming beast rather than a dart thrower. I’m typically a pessimist or realist but that’s never applied to the Wallabies
1 Go to commentsMad how this somehow contained absolutely zero information.
1 Go to commentsI’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
2 Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
9 Go to commentsWith Stuart Lancaster at the helm, Racing 92 looks more and more a mercenaries club like Toulon some years ago and they are not even performing despite all the money on offer.
4 Go to commentsCouple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
9 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
5 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
4 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
4 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
4 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
4 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
4 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
202 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
9 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
9 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
202 Go to comments