The Springbok Women's Sevens learnt some valuable lessons on the opening day of the HSBC SVNS Cape Town at DHL Stadium on Saturday as they lost all three their pool games, against France, Canada and the USA.
Unfortunately the South Africans failed to replicate their strong start from last weekend in Dubai, with the experience of their opponents paving the way to big defeats for the host team, while their coaching team would not have been happy with the high number of missed tackles.
The Bok Women also missed a number of experienced players who are out due to injury, with their calmness under pressure and decision making lacking on a day when it was desperately needed.
They will now face Japan at 09h22 in the ninth-place semi-final on Sunday morning. The match will be played on the second field, across the road from DHL Stadium at Hamilton's Rugby Football Club.
Springbok Women's Sevens head coach Renfred Dazel said the day's effort was not what they had anticipated.
"We started so well, leading France at halftime of our first game," said Dazel.
"Then we lost our way in the second half and that continued against Canada. I was hoping for us to be more clinical in the match against USA, but we gave away possession too easily in that game."
In their opening game of the day, the Springbok Women's Sevens started well, but fell off the pace as France beat them by 29-7 on Saturday morning.
The South Africans led by 7-5 at the break, but a strong second half performance by the women in blue blew the locals off the pitch in blustery conditions at DHL Stadium.
Ayanda Malinga scored first when she crossed in the second half, with Nadine Roos adding the conversion.
France, who placed third last weekend in Dubai, then narrowed the gap with a fifth minute try by Carla Neisen, exploiting some weak defence by the Bok Women.
The Europeans then scored four more tries in the second half - two of them at the death - showing their experience by controlling possession very well throughout most of the half.
Against Canada, too many missed tackles and a failure to get their hands on the ball, resulted in a 40-0 defeat for the South Africans, while their forwards were also under pressure.
The Canadians scored four tries in the first half to lead by 26-0, and although the Bok Women held them for most of the second half, two late tries by the women from North America gave them the big win.
Their final match of the day, against the USA, ended in a 34-0 defeat after the Americans raced to a 24-0 lead at the break.
USA scored four tries in the first half, with two of them going to Alex Sedrick as the Bok Women again struggled to keep their opponents in check on defence.
The Americans followed this up with two more tries after the break for another comfortable victory.
Dazel confirmed that a knee strain Rights Mkhari sustained against Canada will keep her out of action on Sunday: "We have a couple of other players with niggles as well. We will access that and see what we have to deal with tomorrow. We have another big day ahead of us and we need to be better than we were today."
Scorers:
Springbok Women's Sevens 7 (7) France 29 (5)
Bok Women's Sevens - Try: Ayanda Malinga. Conversion: Nadine Roos.
France - Tries: Carla Neisen, Chloe Jacquet, Chloe Pelle, Anne-Cecile Ciofani, Joanna Grisez. Conversions: Caroline Drouin, Yolaine Yengo.
Springbok Women's Sevens 0 Canada 40 (26)
Canada - Tries: Krissy Scurfield, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan, Charity Williams, Asia Hogan-Rochester, Shalaya Valenzuela. Conversions: Chloe Daniels (4), Hogan-Rochester.
Springbok Women's Sevens 0 USA 34 (24)
USA - Tries: Ilona Maher, Alex Sedrick (2), Naya Tapper, Jaz Gray, Cheta Emba. Conversions: Kayla Canett, Nicole Heavirland.
SA Rugby