Springbok Women’s hard-running centre Aphiwe Ngwevu’s road to the final Rugby World Cup squad has not been smooth sailing as she has encountered a number of trials along her journey.
A year ago, Ngwevu was told by head coach Stanley Raubenheimer that she had fallen out of favour for selection as her conditioning was not up to standard and if she did not do anything about it, she was not going to New Zealand for the World Cup.
To further complicate the matter, Ngwevu had an unplanned pregnancy.
“When I came back to play last year, I was not quite where I wanted to be due to giving birth and getting back onto the field a couple of months later.”
The player who was still carrying baby weight was included in the squad that played against Kenya, but according to the player, Coach Raubenheimer told her she needed to lose 10kg before he would consider including her in the team again.
With the challenge, Ngwevu went on to train with at the Winter Rose men’s rugby club in her hometown, Mdantsane.
“I was training with the boys and that made me stronger as well.”
The player said when she was called back into camp this year; she was ready to prove to the coach that she wanted to play for her country again: “I wanted to be the best player. I had to; I have a son to look after. If I play well he eats well.”
In her last three matches against Japan, Ngwevu was impressive, the player made 40 ball carries, three line breaks, two offloads, completed 17 of 20 tackles and beat 12 defenders.
Speaking ahead of the World Cup, Ngwevu says: “For this World Cup, I just want to make my mark. After this tournament, I want people to talk about me. When I was playing u18, I started to dream about playing for the Springboks. Later I heard about the World Cup and then I set my mind on that,” she concluded.
Photo 1 Caption: 24-year-old Springbok Women centre Aphiwe Ngwevu shares how she almost missed playing for the Boks due to pregnancy. Photo: Springbok Women (Twitter)