The past weekend, it was the Springbok Women's Sevens who claimed a hard-fought 17-14 victory over Belgium in the final of the second leg in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Stellenbosch. Their win sealed a spot by qualifying for next season's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. It is titled a major breakthrough for women's rugby in South Africa. 

Five of the winning Bok Women's Sevens namely Nadine Roos, Marlize de Bruin, Kemi Baloyi, Libbie Janse van Rensburg and Liske Lategan - started honing their rugby skills under the guidance of Riaan van der Merwe (Delta Drone TuksWomensRugby Sevens head coach). 

Those who saw them play for Tuks won't be surprised to hear that Roos and Janse van Rensburg combined to score the winning try in the weekend's final. 

In the dying minutes, South Africa had a 5-metre scrum from the Belgium try line. Roos picked up from the base and passed to flyhalf Janse van Rensburg, who darted to the short side and dotted down in the corner to take the score to 17-14. The two have executed similar heroics playing for Tuks countless times in international tournaments. 

It has now become the norm; Roos was the standout player during the tournament. She scored 78 points across the weekend, more than any other player (10 tries and 14 conversions). 

For Janse van Rensburg scoring the winning try was not the only memorable moment. There was that moment during the first leg of the Challenger Series when she made a match-winning tackle against China in the semi-final. 

"With time running out, we had a narrow 5-0 lead. One of the Chinese players broke clean through. I was in the last line of defence. I knew I had to make the tackle for us to win. I don't know how, but I found my top speed. It might be the fastest I ever ran on a rugby field. It is undoubtedly one of the best cover defence tackles I have ever executed."

Janse van Rensburg would not mind playing sevens rugby for the Boks again, but she favours the 15-player code. 

"I think it might be difficult for players to play both codes, especially from next year. Who is going to play which code is going to be SARU's decision."

Janse van Rensburg admits that the current depth in South African women's rugby might make it difficult to field a competitive Bok women's team and a Bok Sevens team. 

She added that it might be easier to recruit players for sevens as local female athletes have yet to totally buy into the idea of playing rugby. 

"The thing with sevens is that it favours smaller and fast players, while players of all body types can play the 15-code. So it is sort of Catch22-situation."