The future of South African Sevens rugby will be on show in Sydney next week when the South African Under-18 women’s team consisting of 12 players takes part in the annual Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) from 18 to 19 January, 2013.
It’s the first time ever that a South African U18 women’s sevens team will play abroad, with the short form making its debut at the AYOF after the sport was included in the Olympic Games for 2016.
A total of 30 nations will take part in 17 sporting codes, utilising most of the venues used during the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.
Senior South African Women’s team coach Denver Wannies will coach the U18 women with former SA Women’s captain, Nomsebenzi Tsotsobe, travelling with the squad as team manager.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our upcoming Sevens stars to showcase their talent on the international stage and to experience competition at this level,” said SARU CEO Jurie Roux.
“These players are still very young, but with the Olympic Games in Brazil more than three years away, it’s not impossible to see some of them feature in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“Expanding the base of Sevens players in South Africa with an eye on the Olympics is one of the reasons why we decided to send these teams to Australia, and I have a lot of confidence in the players and management.”
The squad will leave for Australia on Sunday, 13 January, following a camp in Cape Town this week. They will return on 21 January.
The SA Under-18 Women’s Sevens squad: Ntsako Faith Tshauke (Blue Bulls) Micaela Witbooi (Boland) Kirsten Conrad (Boland) Lusanda Dumke (Border) Simamkele Namba (Border) Asisipho Dotwana (Border) Bonakele Sibiya (Golden Lions) Mandy Mhlongo (KwaZulu-Natal) Christal Williams (South Western Districts) Atheana Botha (South Western Districts) Kimico Manuel (Western Province) Tatum Daniels (Western Province) Coach: Denver Wannies Team manager: Nomsebenzi Tsotsobe
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