CAPE TOWN – A total of 65 of the top women’s players in the country will gather in Cape Town on Wednesday for two national training camps in line with SA Rugby’s plans to boost the national women’s structures.
No fewer than 33 players will participate in the Women’s National XVs camp, while 32 players will partake in the first Under-20 women’s camp of the season, which will run from Wednesday to Sunday.
These camps follow a national women’s assessment camp in March, where a number of these players were put through their paces with a battery of tests to measure their strength, fitness and conditioning.
These camps are vital for the preparation of the players to prove that they have what it takes to stake a claim for places in the Springbok Women’s squad for a tour to the UK in November.
The Springbok Women’s team will play two Tests against Wales, on November 7 and 17, as well as games against the UK Armed Forces (2 November) and the Crawshays (also known as the Welsh Barbarians, November 11), on this tour.
The Under-20 players will also have the bigger picture in mind of working their way into the senior squad for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
There were 24 senior players and one Under-20 player were in the SA Select Women’s squad that travelled to the UK last season, where they faced the England Academy team and the British Army.
Siviwe Basweni and Phumeza Gadu, who were both members of the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup squad, are among three new faces in the senior group. Both players featured in the Springbok Women’s Sevens squad in the last few seasons.
Their presence increases the number of capped Women’s World Cup players in the training squad to seven. The others are Celeste Adonis, Nolusindiso Booi, Thantaswa Macingwane, Asithandile Ntoyanto and Fundiswa Plaatjie.
The squads will have a series of training and gym sessions throughout their respective camps, which will be capped off with chukkas between the sides on Saturday.