DUBAI – Springbok Women's Sevens coach, Renfred Dazel, will leave Dubai fairly satisfied.
His team delivered a much stronger performance on day two of the Dubai Sevens tournament, the first of the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, played at The Sevens Stadium on Friday.
The South Africans bounced back from a disappointing effort on day one by beating Fiji 17-14 and then took Ireland all the way in the final of the Challenge Trophy, in the end losing 24-7 in a performance much more to the character and effort shown by the team on day two of the tournament.
A close, but solid win over Fiji opened the day on a high note and the team then took Ireland to the brink in the final of the Challenge Cup, an important showing for the South African side, as they are not part of the core teams contesting the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.
“We played so much better today than yesterday and were rewarded for that in that win against Fiji. We stuck to our structures and game plan and it resulted in us securing a good win,” Dazel said.
The team did miss a couple of tackles against Ireland, but Dazel pointed to the positives.
“We were in the match all the time. We fluffed a crucial play in the match, but that was not due to us not trying. It was disappointing to lose against Ireland, but if we keep on taking the small steps like we did today, we will be a much improved team come our next tournament. Looking back, the results did not come and that is disappointing, but we did take a step forward at this tournament, no doubt.”
Dazel praised the effort of his players.
“We are not on the circuit, so the intensity and physicality of the teams that are is a massive challenge. I think we will leave this tournament as a better team than the day we arrived and that was one of our more important objectives reached,” Dazel said.