Liske Lategan emphasized the Springbok Women’s Sevens team’s strong desire to regain their position in the HSBC SVNS Series.
Prior to the initial tournament in her squad’s HSBC SVNS 2 journey, the 27-year-old recognizes the significance of achieving victory in Nairobi this weekend if the team aims to secure qualification for the HSBC SVNS World Championship and a chance to rejoin the premier division.
Kenya marks the commencement of this endeavor, followed by additional competitions scheduled for Montevideo and São Paulo in March. Securing one of the top four positions will advance Cecil Afrika’s Springbok Women’s Sevens squad to the HSBC SVNS World Championship.
“Establishing a solid groundwork here in Kenya will be vital for our path back to the pinnacle,” Lategan stated. “Each game will represent a fight for survival for us, and we intend to approach it accordingly.
“Conversely, all six participating teams will compete against one another, not just this weekend, but also during the subsequent two stages, slated for Uruguay and Brazil in the upcoming month.
“The severe consequence of elimination in any single game will be absent, yet this does not imply that we can afford to make errors in any encounter.
“Factors such as point differentials and additional points will be decisive in the ultimate standings, which will dictate who progresses to the HSBC SVNS World Championship competitions.”
During the upcoming weekend, South Africa is scheduled to compete against Spain, Brazil, Kenya, China, and Argentina in the round-robin format. The Argentinian team represents a well-known adversary, as the two sides met in the HSBC SVNS 3 championship match in January, and Kenya served as an opponent in the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens final in November of last year.
“It will be essential to capitalize on the chances we generate when playing against them, given that they typically provide very few,” she remarked.
“Our most recent game versus Argentina was rather tight when we competed against them in the SVNS 3 championship event in Dubai, however, our performance in that particular match was not as strong as it had been earlier in the competition.
“I believe the awareness that we had already secured qualification for SVNS 2 somewhat dulled our execution. We will develop a specific game plan for every encounter, yet certain core principles will be maintained throughout the entire weekend.”
