'We know it will be up to execution': Springbok Women's Sevens name SVNS 2 squad

Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Cecil Afrika has leant on experience as he named the 12 players that will travel to Kenya for HSBC SVNS 2.

Overall the squad contains 10 of the players that won HSBC SVNS 3 a month ago in Dubai.

There will be an international debut for Shannon-Lee Windvogel, who replaces the injured Vianca Boer. The only other change sees Lerato Makua replace Zintle Mpupha who is on provincial duty.

Nadine Roos continued to captain the team, who were victorious on their last trip to Nairobi in the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens Championship.

“It does help knowing the lay of the land a bit,” said Afrika. “We will stay at the same hotel as last time and although we play in a different stadium, things like traffic and training venues will also be familiar to us.”

Nairobi is the first stop of the HSBC SVNS 2 campaign. After this weekend’s stop in Kenya, teams will play legs in Montevideo and São Paulo.

A round robin competition, South Africa are contending for a place in the top four against Argentina, China, Kenya, Spain and Brazil. Being part of the top four will secure teams with a place in the HSBC SVNS Championship.

“It will be a bit different from the format that we are used to during the normal world series, where your pool matches are followed by the knock-out phase,” Afrika said.

“It does make every match very important as points difference and bonus points are also up for the taking. A losing bonus point could turn out to be very valuable and a slip up here can come back to bite you in the final tournament, so we need to take every match on its merits and make sure we pitch up every time.”

Ahead of the tournament, Afrika believes that his side have the talent to start their HSBC SVNS 2 campaign on a high.

“We have played against all of them in the last two seasons and had wins and losses, so we know it will be up to our execution on the day,” Afrika said. “We had recent wins over Kenya and Argentina and were just edged by Brazil in the Dubai International Invitational tournament.”

Springbok Women’s Sevens squad for SVNS 2 in Kenya

1 Leigh Fortuin
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
23 Ayanda Malinga
26 Lerato Makua
28 Shannon-Lee Windvogel