Durban – The Springbok Women’s Sevens team went undefeated on the opening day at the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Stellenbosch earlier today, and playmaker Nadine Roos wants more of the same on the second day of the tournament at Markötter Stadium.
The South African women enjoyed pool victories over Paraguay and Madagascar and their focus shifts now to Thailand, their final Pool D opponent, who they face at 11.32am tomorrow morning.
However, because of other results in the pool, the South Africans have already qualified for the Cup quarter-finals.
“We start the next job, which is Thailand, and once that is completed we will look at the quarter-final opponent and plan accordingly”, said Roos, who scored tries in both matches on Friday.
She lamented the slow start against Madagascar, which saw their African counterparts take an early lead before a brace by Roos and a good team try by Simamkele Namba created daylight between the two sides.
Roos said: “I don’t know why we always start slow against Madagascar, the same happened last weekend. It is not something we can afford or need, we have to be at our best from the start.”
A strong second half saw the expected domination by the team in green and gold.
“That is how it should be,” said Roos. "I believe we individually outmatch them, yet we struggle at times. The nice part of closing out the day was the fight we showed. Everyone in that team was fighting hard to put them away and that is very encouraging. On Saturday (tomorrow), that is an exciting prospect.”
Roos' team started the second tournament in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series with a commanding performance against Paraguay, winning by 29-0, but in the second match, the South Africans had to work hard to beat Madagascar by 19-5.
IOL Sport