A severely depleted Springbok Women’s Sevens team finished the final HSBC SVNS 2 tournament at Estadio Nicolau Alayon on a high note on Sunday, and despite a mixed bag of results, their fighting spirit shone brightly in Sao Paulo.
They were without five injured players and faced Argentina and China with only eight players available, with all of Nadine Roos, Simamkele Namba, Liske Lategan, Shannon-Leigh Windvogel and Patience Mokone ruled out due to injury.
The South Africans suffered a 19-5 defeat to Argentina, but bounced back in the second half against China to claim a 14-10 win and finish the tournament in fifth place.
Much was expected of the match-up between South Africa and Argentina as they came into the tournament occupying the top two positions on the log, but the depleted Bok Women side just did not have enough gamebreakers left to pull off a win.
As a result of all the injuries, the starting team played together for the first time and lacked cohesion on attack. They defended well and for long spells as Argentina kept the ball alive, but any team can only defend for so long and three minutes in Argentina broke through for the first points of the match.
From the restart, a good attack by South Africa resulted in Ayanda Malinga scoring near the posts, but the conversion went wide.
Argentina scored soon after some limp-wristed defence by South Africa to take a 14-5 lead at the break. They scored the only try of the second half also after a quick tap penalty caught the Bok Women napping on defence.
The best seven minutes of the day for the South Africans came in the second half of their match against China. The Chinese scored two good first half tries against a tiring SA defence and held a 10-0 lead at the break.
The second half belonged to the team in green and gold. Showing tremendous heart, they scored when Asisipho Plaatjies stepped past her opponent and with the conversion successful, it suddenly became a one score result.
That score came from Shanidiné Bezuidenhout playing at scrumhalf. The former netball star worked her way through the smallest of gaps to score under the poles for a converted try, not only a match-winning one, but a first for her country as well.
Scorers:
South Africa 5 (5), Argentina 19 (14)
SA – Try: Ayanda Malinga.
Argentina – Tries: Azul Medina, María Paula Pedrozo, Francesca Iacaruso. Conversions: Sofia Gonzalez.
South Africa 14 (0), China 10 (10)
SA – Tries: Asisipho Plaatjies, Shanidiné Bezuidenhout. Conversions: Byrhandrè Dolf (2).
China – Tries: Chen Ziying, Hua Beibei.