The Delta Drone TuksWomensRugby7’s team is on a mission to win every time they took to the field, losing is like a swear word to them, but once in a while, there is the exception.
Yesterday getting beaten in the final of the Paris World Games was one of those times. France’s Fantastice7’s team outplayed Tuks to win 29-5.
However, afterwards, Libbie Janse van Rensburg (captain) described the outcome as one of the team’s most heroic performances as the odds were certainly stacked against Tuks in the build-up to the tournament.
Nadine Roos a prolific try-scorer was not available as she was with the Springbok women’s team preparing for the World Cup. Quite a few key players were injured, and a few had to withdraw due to study commitments.
This led to Riaan van der Merwe (coach) being quite worried saying that it feels like they ended up in the deep-end of a swimming pool and he was not sure whether they will be able to stay afloat.
To make matters worse, Janse van Rensburg limped off during the second game with quite a severe ankle injury. For the last four years, she had been the “general” who dictated the play. She is also the team’s kicker often boasting with a 100% success rate.
But as they say ‘cometh the hour, cometh the woman'; Kemi Baloyi took over the captaincy and played as never before.
An excited Van der Merwe said that Baloyi gave new meaning to multitasking doing what a prop should do as well as fulfilling the roles as sweeper, flyhalf and captain.
Janse van Rensburg was equally impressed with how her teammates managed to keep their cool on the field in spite of them being quite inexperienced.
“It was exciting to see that the team got to a stage where they don’t just rely on one or two players to win games. The past two days every player stepped up to the plate. The goal had been to at least qualify for the semi-finals, they went one better and contested the final. As captain, I am so proud of what they achieved.”
Janse van Rensburg is worried to the extent she might have injured her ankle. The X-rays showed that she had a hairline fracture, but there is a real chance that she might have damaged her ligaments as well. She will go for sonar once she is back in South Africa. As things stand at the moment, she will have to wear a moon boot and walk with crutches for at least two weeks.
Delta Drone TuksWomensRugby7’s team has so far competed in five international tournaments winning the Centrales Sevens (France), losing in the final of the Stanislas (France), finishing third in the Benidorm Tournament (Spain), fourth in Rome and now finishing second. Tuks is also the USSA champions.
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