Revenge will not be the Delta Drone TuksWomensRugby7's main motivation from Friday when they are competing in the Roma Sevens, but if the opportunity should arise, they won’t mind beating Poland and Kazakhstan.
In their first international outing in which Tuks contested tournaments in France and Spain, they were only beaten twice in 18 games.
During the Stanislas Sevens-final in France Poland managed to score the winning try in the dying minutes. The final score was 14-12. The team suffered their second defeat in the Benidorm semi-final in Spain. Kazakhstan won after two minutes of extra time was played. The score was 15-10.
Both teams will be in action in Rome. In last year’s final Tuks lost to China. The score was 20-17.
In spite of having already won the Centrales Sevens Tournament in France this season Riaan van der Merwe (coach) is taking nothing for granted.
“Our performance in France in Spain was a good confidence booster, but there is truth in the saying that any team is only as good as its last game. The Rome Tournament will be a true test. Quite a few good teams are in action. One of them certainly is Spain’s Ueskarians. Up to now, we have lost all four games we played against them. We also only managed to beat Kazakhstan once since 2010. So the players will have to be on to the top of their game from the very first moment they step onto the field.”
The performances of the Tuks players have not gone unnoticed. Paul Delport who coaches the Springbok Sevens-side has indicated that he wants Liske Lategan (wing) to attend a training camp before the final team for the Rugby World Cup Tournament (20-22 July in San Francisco is selected. Lategan has been a prolific try-scorer for Tuks.
Nadine Roos (Tuks winger) is already playing for the Springboks.
Cinanda Potgieter and Kirsten Eastes have been selected for the South African Student team that will be competing in the FISU World University Rugby Sevens Tournament in Swakopmund (12-14 July).
Libbie Janse van Rensburg (Tuks captain) was also selected but had to withdrew due to study commitments.
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