Five-try Nadine Roos fires Springboks into Challenger quarter-finals

Nadine Roos demonstrated her class on day two of the Sevens Challenger Series in Stellenbosh, scoring five tries as the Springboks hammered Thailand 38-0 to secure a quarter-final later on Saturday versus Colombia.

The soon-to-be 27-year-old spoke at length in midweek to RugbyPass about the need for tournament hosts South Africa to be on their guard as they had a target on their backs going into the second weekend of the 2023 qualifier having been crowed first-leg champions last Saturday.

Roos more than played her part in ensuring that South Africa progressed comfortably to the knockout stages as Pool D winners, scoring four-half tries and then adding a fifth for good measure in the second half of their final pool match.

Automatic qualification for next season’s revamped World Rugby Series is the overall prize up for grabs across the two weekends of Challenger action and the fancied Springboks are now within touching distance of achieving promotion to the elite of the women’s sevens game.

They head into their quarter-final knowing that a win over Colombia will secure a semi-final on Sunday versus the winners of Czechia and Poland. In the other half of the draw, the winners of Belgium-Hong Kong China and China-Paraguay will battle it out.

In the men’s section, first-weekend title winners Tonga bounced back from their last-gasp loss to Chile on Friday by beating Italy 49-21 to secure a quarter-final versus Hong Kong China.

The winners of that tie will take on either Germany or Italy in Sunday’s semi-final. On the other side of the draw the winners of the Uganda-Belgium and Chile-Papua New Guinea quarter-finals are set to clash.

The overall men’s series champions, a title that will also be decided on the aggregate placings across both Challenger Series weekends, will go forward into a four-team qualifier in London next month where a promotion place into next season’s revamped elite World Series will be at stake.