Springbok Women have uphill battle

The Springbok Women’s Sevens side will look to claim one of the four places that will be up for grabs in the 2014/15 IRB Sevens World Series when they take part with 11 other countries in Hong Kong on 12 and 13 September.

The South Africans will battle it out against Japan, China, Kenya, Brazil, Fiji, Mexico, Hong Kong, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Argentina at the Shek Kip Mei Stadium.

The competition will consist of three pools of four teams, with the top two sides in each pool progressing to the quarterfinals, along with the two best third-placed teams.

The winners of the quarterfinals will progress to the semi-finals and also secure automatic qualification for next season’s Women’s Sevens World Series, joining New Zealand, Australia, Russia, England, Spain, USA and Canada.

The top four teams on the 2014/15 Sevens World Series will secure automatic qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

“Our two main goals from the beginning of this season has been to qualify for the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series and to do our best to ensure that we qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games,” Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Renfred Dazel said.

“This qualifying tournament will open the door to both of these objectives.

“At this stage we have another important matter at hand and that is to deliver a quality performance in the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup in France in August. Once that is completed our Sevens players will gather again in Port Elizabeth to prepare for the qualifying series.”