Nine players capped at XVs in Springboks' Challenger Series squad

Springboks coach Renfred Dazel has included just one uncapped sevens player – XVs out-half Libbie Janse van Rensburg – in an experienced women’s squad for this weekend’s opening leg of the 2023 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series at Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch.

The two-weekend series opens this Thursday with South Africa taking on the Czechs and Mexico before completing their pool on Friday against Madagascar, and the inclusion of van Rensburg means that nine of the 13-strong squad on duty have Test match experience in XVs.

While van Rensburg, who earned her 12th Test cap earlier this month when playing for South Africa versus Spain, has yet to play in the World Series, she has international sevens experience having played for an SA Select squad when they toured France in 2016, a trip that coincidentally had Dazel coaching in his first stint with the national side.

Dazel has included six players from the squad that last ran out for the Springboks at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens in December – Rights Mkhari, Kemisetso Baloyi, Marlize de Bruin, Nadine Roos, Simamkele Namba and Liske Lategan.

“I’m really happy with the squad and am going into this Challenger Series knowing that we prepared well,” said Dazel. “The big difference between this squad and the one that played in Cape Town last December is the amount of preparation we had for this. Last time around, we had a week to prepare for the Dubai Invitational, which was followed a week later by the Cape Town tournament.

“We had now had a good preparation and the players really worked hard to put themselves in the best position possible for this series. The fact that we could also have access to Nadine, Libbie and Jakkie (Cilliers) to add depth to our squad is much appreciated. We had a good run and will approach this weekend’s tournament with the knowledge that we are as well prepared as we can be.”

SPRINGBOKS: 1. Rights Mkhari, 2. Sizophila Solontsi, 3. Zintle Mpupha (co-captain), 4. Simamkele Namba, 5. Liske Lategan, 6. Kemisetso Baloyi, 7. Mathrin Simmers (co-captain), 8. Nadine Roos, 9. Eloise Webb, 10. Marlize de Bruin, 11. Ayanda Malinga, 12. Zandile Masuku, 13. Libbie Janse van Rensburg.

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series women’s pools:

A: Poland, Colombia, Hong Kong China, Paraguay;

B: South Africa, Madagascar, Mexico, Czechia;

C: China, Belgium, Papua New Guinea, Thailand.