The Springbok Women’s Sevens will face the Netherlands in the IRB Women’s Sevens Qualifier series quarter-final at 5:22am (SA time) on Saturday in their toughest assignment in recent memory, with a core berth on the 2014/15 IRB Women’s Sevens World Series tour the winner’s spoils at the King’s Park Sports Centre in Hong Kong.
Coach Renfred Dazel will be impressed with his charges’ Day 1 exploits, starting with a 21-19 upset win over France. South Africa threw off a sluggish start to ecclipse France’s opening unconverted try for a 7-5 half-time lead, and Zenay Jordaan and Veroeshka Grain added second half tries which kept a late resurgent French side at bay for an opening morale booster.
Watch the Springboks vs France at the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series qualifiers in Hong Kong on Youtube
Their second match of the day saw the South Africans receive a hammering courtesy a superior Chinese squad, who humbled the South Africans 31-7 after leading 17-0 at the turn-around.
Watch the Springboks vs China at the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series qualifiers in Hong Kong on Youtube
Still the tireless African champs returned to ensure as favorable a quarter-final draw as possible, with a compelling 36-0 drubbing of Mexico, to finish the day with heads held high.
Watch the Springboks vs Mexico at the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series qualifiers in Hong Kong on Youtube
Currently ranked 16 out of 17 participating teams, South Africa will not underestimate the threat posed by a powerful world 11th-ranked Dutch squad which despatched Hong Kong 10-12, Portugal 14-0 and Brazil 7-0 for a day 1 clean-sweep.
The Hong Kong qualifiers provide the four teams to win core berths on the 2014/15 Women’s Sevens World Series, joining pre-qualified incumbents New Zealand, Australia, Russia, England, Spain, USA and Canada.
A 12th team will be invited to participate at each tournament.
Japan, China, South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Fiji, Mexico, Hong Kong, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Argentina are all competing for those valuable results across three pools of four teams, with the top two from each pool, along with two best third-placed teams progressing to the quarter-final stage.
Springbok Women Sevens IRB World Series Qualifier: South Africa Pool A Results on Friday, 12 September 2014: South Africa 21-19 France South Africa 31-7 China South Africa 36-0 Mexico South Africa Quarter-Final Fixture: 05:22am (SA time) South Africa vs the Netherlands Springbok Women’s Sevens squad for the IRB World Series Qualifier: Lorinda Brown Phumeza Gadu Rachelle Geldenhuys Nosiphiwo Goda Veroeshka Grain Zenay Jordaan (capt) Nwabisa Ngxatu Sinazo Nobele Marithy Pienaar Fundiswa Plaatjie Mathrin Simmers Shona-Leah Weston
Photo 1 caption: The referee penalises France for holding in the first half of their opening IRB Women’s Sevens World Series qualifier fixture, a decision which saw Springbok Women’s Sevens skipper Zenay Jordaan touch down for the first South African score of the tournament, and lead to the African champs upsetting a superior French squad 21-19 in Hong Kong on Friday, 12 September, 2014. Photo: Screengrab of the IRB live stream on Youtube
Photo 2 caption: The Springbok Women’s Sevens team huddle at half-time against China, in a match which brought their only setback of the day, South Africa humbled 31-7. Photo: Screengrab of the IRB live stream on Youtube
(With editing by gsport)
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