To tackle, dummy, and score tries on a rugby field is nothing new to Tuks’s female students.
They have been doing so for years and are pretty good at it. Delta Drone Tuks Sevens team has won numerous international tournaments, was crowned African Student Champions and won the inaugural Varsity Sevens Tournament.
Last year there was a stage where seven of the Tuks players had been chosen to play for the Blitzboks. Three Tuks players were in action for the Boks during the World Cup Tournament in New Zealand. The Tuks alumni, Nadine Roos, is the Springboks 2022 female player of the year.
But there can be no resting on their laurels. In a few weeks from now, student female rugby players will, for the first time, get an opportunity to play Varsity Rugby.
According to the Tuks women’s head coach, Lizanne Jacobs, it will be an exciting new challenge. Jacobs has the honour of being the first senior female coach to be appointed at TuksRugby.
Jacobs is not one to make bold promises about winning tournaments.
“Are we going to win? I honestly don’t know. The longer format of the game is new to most of our players. So it could be that we are in a building phase for next year. All I can say is I love ‘attractive’ rugby. That is what I hope Tuks is going to play. If they do, I will be a happy coach.
“My biggest challenge as a coach is to get each player to play to the best of their ability. Part of my motivation is that I only got to fulfil some of my goals as a rugby player. Now, I hope to get others to live their dreams.”
Jacobs could be considered one of the South African women’s rugby trailblazers. She used to be an avid hockey player, but everything changed during a training session in the gym.
“I got asked whether I would be interested in playing rugby. I was surprised that women in South Africa were playing rugby. I could not resist taking up a new challenge. I immediately fell in love with the game. I was 27 when I started to play.”
But things took a nasty turn for Jacobs. She got diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis. It is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation and sores in your digestive tract. She had to undergo a complete colectomy-removal of the colon. She ended up being six months hospital. Quitting rugby was, however, not an option.
“To use an Afrikaans word, I can sometimes be quite ‘hardegat’. Meaning I don’t give up. In 2011 I slowly started to play rugby again. I played my best rugby from 2012 to 2016 as a 6-flanker for the Bulls.
“In 2012, I got offered a contract to join the Springbok sevens side. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I had to make a hard decision and decline the offer.”
Jacobs is not exaggerating when talking about being ‘hardest’. During a Tuks practice session last week, she was coaching with her arm in a sling.
Tuks’s women are playing UJ on 3 April in their first Varsity encounter.
