The South African Women’s Sevens Rugby team is excited to be representing the country at the Olympic Games for the very first time.
This is the third time the team has qualified, but the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), excluded Women’s Sevens from previous teams for the Games.
The team has been in camp in Potchefstroom for the past two weeks where the final team was selected.
Coach Renfred Dazel was part of the team when they qualified for the first time, but he was not there when they made it the second time.
Now, it’s third time lucky for him.
“I think what changed now is where women’s sport is currently in the world. It has exposure on the biggest stages and even with the hockey that never got an opportunity before, I was part of the first one when we qualified in Kempton Park but not with the second one. But here I am standing two weeks ago taking the team to the Olympics.”
South Africa will be in the same pool as Australia, Ireland and Great Britain. And the coach is confident of getting good results against them.
“We have played all three of them before in the world circuit. Australia is a very skillful team. We have played them twice, we didn’t have a good outing the first time, the second one we managed to play better, Ireland we came close in the few opportunities and Great Britain, we have beaten them once this year it will be what the girls want for the tournament.”
Paris Olympics | SA Women’s Sevens rugby team
