From the streets of Kariega to #RWC2025

SPOTLIGHT: They breed them tough on the sports fields in Uitenhage, officially renamed Kariega, and this story is about a small girl’s road from the streets of Rosedale to rugby fame.

Kariega, situated on the banks of the Swartkops River, is well known for being home to the largest car factory on the African continent.

The town also lies at the start of the Mohair Route, which leads along Route 75 towards Graaff-Reinet (the centre for mohair farming in South Africa).

And this is where Byrhandre Dolf played touch rugby with the boys as a child, and where her future success in the Green and Gold was born.

Little did she know that years later, she would be included in the Springbok Women’s senior team.

The 21-year-old Dolf is a utility back for the Springbok Women, and at such a young age, she has already achieved so much, including being an Olympian.

With 16 Test caps to her name, she is getting on another plane, this time bound for Madagascar, to yet again represent South Africa as she has done many times before.

Dolf made her debut for the Springbok women’s team in 2023. She also made her debut for the Sevens team in December of that year at the Cape Town SVNS.

She was a member of the South African women’s Sevens team that competed at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. In September that year, she was called into South Africa’s fifteen’s squad for the 2024 WXV 2 tournament.

In 2022, she captained the Junior Springbok team in their friendly international against Zimbabwe’s Junior Sable Women in a curtain raiser for the senior women against Spain in Potchefstroom.

Formerly from Eastern Province, Dolf is now a full-time professional with the Bulls Daisies.

At such a young age, Dolf already has a bucket load of experience and accolades under her belt, having competed in the WXV2 twice and won the Africa Cup.

In 2023, she walked away with the Players’ Player of the Year Award at the Bulls Daisies.

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She has even stepped into the big boots of Springbok No. 10 Libbie Janse van Rensburg at flyhalf during the HSBC SVNS tournament in Cape Town in 2023.

“I started playing rugby in the streets with the boys, and we played touch rugby. And then I heard that there was women’s rugby.

“I wanted to play for the Springbok Women one day, and I started taking up rugby when I was 15.

“I played Craven Weeks for Eastern Province, and after they selected me for the High Performance Under 18’s, I got the feeling of being in the environment, and I thought this is something I want to do for a long time,” Dolf recently reflected during a training session at Redhill School in Sandton where the women were preparing to defend their Africa Cup title.

She made her Test debut at the tender age of just 19.

“I made my Test debut in 2023 against Canada. I played off the bench that day… seven minutes, but it was amazing.

“I prefer Sevens, I’ve got more room to do my own thing. Playing fifteens means playing in small spaces, and you just have to manoeuvre yourself to the tryline, I guess.

“I would really love to be in the World Cup squad. I think that is every girl’s dream at the moment.

“It just takes hard work and perseverance.”

The utility back, who has stepped out at wing, fullback and flyhalf, revealed her favourite position is at No. 10.

“I prefer flyhalf. I am creative. I can create stuff and make the speedsters go and score the tries on the edges,” she says with a big smile.

“Fifteen’s is much more tense. When I play Sevens, I am much more relaxed, telling myself it’s like when I played touch rugby with the boys.

“You have to be very fit for Sevens, and when you come back to the 15’s game, it’s easy peasy.

“In my family, everyone did long distances. I was staying with my Granny, and she told me I had to do long distances. So I was forced to do it.

“But yoh, it was a lot man. They had to force me to go to training. I didn’t do it with passion.

“Now that I do something with passion, there is a better outcome.”