Springbok Women’s Sevens captain Mathrin Simmers in action during the final Challenger Series tournament in Krakow Poland.
Image: Travis Prior / World Rugby
The Springbok Women’s Sevens settled a score against Kenya with some good attacking and a strong defensive display to win their Challenger Series semi-final 22-10.
In the first two tournaments, played in Cape Town, the Kenyan Lionesses upset their hosts, claiming back-to-back victories over them in the final and semi-finals to win the first two rounds.
On Saturday afternoon in Krakow, the South Africans were in no mood to fall to their African neighbours again. They laid the platform with their defensive effort in the first half and produced some fine attacking moments to take the game by the scruff of the neck in the first half.
It also helped that Kenya showed some uncharacteristic ill-discipline, coughing up penalty after penalty to allow their opponents to dominate the territory and possession.
Speedsters Ayanda Malinga and Maria Tshiremba were the first to score after the Bok Women’s Sevens had to graft in the opening stages to gain control of the game. Both scored good breakaway tries after some ordinary defence from their opponents for a 12-0 lead.
Star of the weekend for the South Africans, Nadine Roos, took the game away from the Kenyans with a try shortly after halftime before veteran Zintle Mpupha sealed the deal, going over despite the attention of a couple of tacklers to make the score 22-0.
By then, head coach Renfred Dazel’s troops were well out of reach of their rivals, and they initially defended well to keep their try line intact. A series of penalties and a yellow card close to the end of the game allowed Kenya to score two tries quickly to make the scoreline more respectable.
The Springbok Women’s Sevens will face Argentina on Saturday evening (6.15 pm) in the final of the last Challenger Series tournament. They will end in second place behind Kenya on the overall Challenger Series points log but qualified for the Los Angeles playoff tournament next month after their flawless performance in the group stages.