The Springbok Women's Sevens team had to dig deep but ultimately did enough to book their spot in the final of the second World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 tournament in Cape Town on Saturday with a 21-15 victory over Czechia in the first semi-final.
The South Africans had to worst possible start, conceding two yellow cards - to Leigh Fortuin and Mathrin Simmers - in the opening exchanges, which allowed the Czechs to take a 10-0 lead with two unconverted tries.
Once they were back to seven players, the Bok Women hit their straps, with Maria Tshiremba scoring twice late in the first half, with Nadine Roos adding the extras to give South Africa a 14-10 lead at the break.
Roos scored shortly after the break with a great run up the middle of the field, adding the conversion to make it 21-10.
However, more disciplinary issues followed when Kemisetso Baloyi and Zintle Mpupha were also yellow carded in quick succession, leaving South Africa playing with only five players for a second time in the match.
Czechia used this numerical advantage well and scored their third try, again unconverted, to make it 21-15 and leave the local fans on the edge of their seats.
South Africa did very well to play out the match and when their sin-binned players returned, they ran the clock down for a tight win to secure their place in the final, at 19h51 against Kenya, last weekend's winners.
Scorers:
Semi-final: South Africa 21 (14) Czechia 15 (10)
SA - Tries: Maria Tshiremba (2), Nadine Roos. Conversions: Nadine Roos (3).
Czechia - Tries: Veronika Bolfová, Julie Doležilová, Tereza Bathová.