Nairobi SVNS 2: BlitzBok Women to fight for elite spot
PREVIEW: Rested and ready to go again after their heroics in Dubai last month, HSBC SVNS 3 qualifiers South Africa, Canada, Argentina and Belgium join eight established sevens nations in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, this weekend at the start of a six-week, three-tournament continent and ocean-crossing quest to reach the HSBC SVNS Championship.
South Africa, Spain and Argentina’s women are bidding to join their male counterparts later this year, while Canada and the USA’s men are aiming to follow in their women’s teams’ footsteps and reach the Championship tournament. But the likes of Kenya, Uruguay and Brazil, who have all graced the main HSBC SVNS competition in recent seasons, will be keen to return to the top table of sevens rugby.
All 12 sides will look to get off to a quick start in Nairobi, before a long trip to South America for back-to-back stopovers in Montevideo and Sao Paulo next month as they vie for a top-four finish to secure a place in the elite end-of-season HSBC SVNS World Championship Series.
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The winner-takes-all championship will feature 24 teams competing in a total of nine days of high-level rugby across stops in Hong Kong (April), Valladolid (May) and Bordeaux (June).
BlitzBok Women have a real belief and desire to reclaim their seat at the main table of HSBC SVNS, and that commitment will be on display, said Liske Lategan.
She is one of the stalwarts who has experienced all the ups and downs the team has gone through since her debut in 2019, when the World Series combined the men’s and women’s circuits for the first time.
On debut, at DHL Stadium in Cape Town, Lategan scored the very first try for the Bok Women to leave her name in the history books. Apart from spells on the touchline due to injury, she has been a regular feature in the team.
In those seven years, she was part of the group that almost disbanded due to the COVID-19 pandemic, struggled to qualify for the World Series, then qualified, only to get relegated again. And she had to deal with a couple of niggles, including a serious knee injury last year.
“All of those ups and downs made me stronger, and I can look back at those things grateful that I came out stronger and more determined that this team should be playing at the highest level,” said Lategan.
Come the opening day in the Kenyan leg of the three HSBC SVNS 2 tournaments, Lategan will again provide some grunt and guidance in the forward pack, with the knowledge that it will be a team effort as well.
“It will be crucial to our road back to the top to lay a strong foundation here in Kenya. Every match will be one of survival for us and we will treat it as such,” Lategan explained their mindset in the format that has no knock-out matches on the weekend. Instead, all six teams will play each other, not only this weekend, but also in the two remaining legs, to be played in Uruguay and Brazil next month.
“The harsh reality of being knocked out in any match will not be there, but that does not mean we can slip up in any match. Things like points difference and bonus points will be crucial in the final log positions, which will determine who goes to the HSBC SVNS World Championship tournaments.”
What put Lategan at ease for the matches against Spain, Brazil, Kenya, China and Argentina is the self-belief in the squad, the cohesion they have and the shared belief that they can top the log come Sunday afternoon.
“I can say with confidence that we have a great team spirit and we celebrate each other,” she said.
“We are happy for each other and sad for each other, and there is great unity in this group, and that bodes well for us.
“We prepared really well, and that showed in our tournament win recently in Dubai, where we won the SVNS 3 event. These opponents will be a step up, but we have beaten all of them before and can do so again.”
Reflecting on their opponents, Lategan points to some individual stars in the Spain team: “We have won three and they won three in the last six times we played each other, but that last 22-0 defeat against them was very costly for us as that was ultimately the match that dropped us out of the series in 2024. So, we owe them one.”
They played Brazil in the Dubai International Invitational tournament in December, so the memories are fresh for the South Africans, said Lategan: “There was just one score in that match, and our defence forced them into many errors, so I think we know how to play them.”
The match against Kenya will be a local highlight as any clash with the Lionesses is usually very physical, and Lategan expects more of the same this weekend: “We beat them here in Nairobi when we won the Rugby Africa title, so I think we can go into that match with some confidence of knowing what to expect.”
Lategan said China’s passing game is very good, which allows them to play a very expansive, side-to-side match.
“It will be important to use the opportunities we create against them, as they do not offer you many of those,” she said.
“Our last match against Argentina was quite close when we played them in the SVNS 3 final in Dubai, but we did not play as well in that match as earlier in the tournament.
“I think the knowledge that we had already qualified for SVNS 2 did take some edge off our performance. We will have a strategy for each game, but some fundamentals will remain for the whole weekend.”
South Africa’s HSBC SVNS 2 fixtures (SA times)
Saturday, February 14:
08.00: Spain
11.24: Brazil
14.48: Kenya
Sunday, February 15:
10.00: China
14.12: Argentina
