The Springbok Women’s Sevens were crowned champions of the inaugural HSBC SVNS 3 tournament in Dubai on Sunday after they beat Argentina by 12-5 in a tightly contested final.
The victory also underlined their undefeated status at the Sevens Stadium, where the South Africans won all five their matches this weekend.
Victory in their semifinal over Poland earlier on Sunday also meant the Bok Women qualified for the HSBC SVNS 2 series, which will be played in Nairobi (February 14-15), Montevideo (March 21-22) and Sao Paulo (March 28-29).
SA started slow against Argentina. They kept the South Americans at bay with strong early defence but did not quite show the same prowess on attack, where they failed to finish some of the opportunities created.
In fact, it was Argentina who scored the only try in the first half to lead 5-0 at the break.
The second half was another arm wrestle, but the South African attack was starting to cause their opponents problems, with a try by Zintle Mpupha three minutes from time levelling the scores at 5-5.
Patience Mokone then scored with a minute to go and the conversion by Nadine Roos sealed the deal for SA, though they still had to fight off a last desperate Argentina attack before the final whistle.
They also started slowly against Poland in the semifinal earlier in the day.
An early try by Roos, when she broke away from strong scrum by her team, had them ahead, but some slow reactions at a ruck resulted in Poland grabbing the incentive back, with Martyna Wardaszka scoring.
Poland had some momentum, but good defence and a lovely try by Tshiremba returned the momentum to the Bok Women, who held a 12-5 lead at the break.
The second half belonged to SA. Tshiremba, Ayanda Malinga and Patience Mokone all scored when space was created on the outside, while Mpupha added the final try down route one following a quick penalty.
Scorers:
Sunday
Final: SA 12 (0), Argentina 5 (5)
SA: Tries: Zintle Mpupha, Patience Mokone. Conversion: Nadine Roos. Argentina: Try: Maria Taladrid.
Semifinal: SA 36 (12), Poland 5 (5)
SA: Tries: Nadine Roos, Maria Tshiremba (2), Ayanda Malinga, Patience Mokone, Zintle Mpupha. Conversions: Roos (3). Poland: Try: Martyna Wardaszka.
Saturday
SA 61 (28), Mexico 0 (0)
SA - Tries: Maria Tshiremba (4), Vianca Boer, Ayanda Malinga, Patience Mokone (2), Nadine Roos. Conversions: Roos (8).
SA 24 (17), Czechia 5 (5)
SA:Tries: Shiniqwa Lamprecht, Nadine Roos (2), Maria Tshiremba. Conversions: Roos (2). Czechia: Try: Julie Durychova.
SA 33 (21), Thailand 5 (5)
SA: Tries: Leigh Fortuin, Vianca Boer, Shiniqwa Lamprecht, Zintle Mpupha, Ayanda Malinga. Conversions: Roos (3), Byrhandré Dolf. Thailand: Try: Laksina Nawakaew. — SA Rugby
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