The Delta Drone TuksRugby7's women's team again as has become the norm made their presence felt in international competitions by finishing third in the Emirates Dubai Invitation Tournament.
The Tuks team lost in the semi-finals against the Irish Women's Development Team. The score was 17-15. It is only the second game the Tuks team lost since July. The other being the final they played in Rome.
Tuks can, however, boast of having beaten the champions, Randwick Magic (Australia) in their pool games.
In the playoffs for the third place Tuks beat The Royals 17-15.
Randwick Magic won the final by beating the Irish Development team 15-10. The national teams of Russia, Belgium, Poland and Wales competed in the competition.
A definite highlight for Tuks was beating Belgium in the quarterfinals 14-12.
Libbie Janse van Rensburg (Tuks captain) ascribed the team's success to pure passion.
"We play for each other. The real motivation is to make Tuks proud. There are no words to describe how it feels to win internationally playing in the coveted Tuks 'Striped Jersey'. It is special."
According to Janse van Rensburg, the quarterfinal game against Belgium was a humdinger.
"We had a score to settle with Belgium after drawing against them during a tournament in France earlier the season. A little bit of over-eagerness led to two of our players being sin-binned which meant that for about two minutes it was a case of five against seven players. Luckily we managed to stay focused to secure the win."
In the semi-final, a Tuks player received a yellow card for a foul. That meant that in the dying minutes the team was again one player short. The Irish made the most of it and scored the winning try.
Janse van Rensburg who as always led by example was one of the nominations for the player of the tournament.
Riaan van der Merwe (coach) singled Sanli van den Brink out as another player who impressed.
"Sanli was brilliant when she had the ball in hand. The opposition players had their work cut out in trying to stop her."
Janse van Rensburg has a slight dilemma. She has finished her studies and has received various international job offers. However, she wants to keep on playing for Tuks.
"I fully realise that there comes a time in anyone's life where they got to start paying bills but I feel like I have still some unfinished business playing for Tuks. So hopefully I will be able to find work in Pretoria which will enable me to keep on playing.
"The other option would be to see if I can play internationally or perhaps for South Africa but that won't be the same as playing for Tuks."
Van der Merwe describes Janse van Rensburg as the "glue" that keeps the Tuks team together.
The Tuks team's next international tournament is at the end of January in Fidji.
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