When glancing at the teamsheet of the Springbok women’s sevens team going to the Paris Olympic Games, it is clear that Tuks is where good players get an opportunity to be extraordinary.
Five of the Bok team’s players finetuned their rugby skills playing for the Tuks sevens side. Last year, Nadine Roos was South Africa’s Women’s Sevens Rugby Player of the Year, and Libbie Janse van Rensburg was the 15-code Women’s Player of the Year.
Both of them will be playing in Paris. Roos as scrumhalf or centre and Janse van Rensburg as flyhalf. In their days playing for Tuks, they have combined countless times to score tries, setting up Tuks to victory. Their flair has even led to Tuks beating some national sides in international tournaments.
It has been some time since the two of them have played together. However, Janse van Rensburg, a full-time employee at TuksRugby, is confident that they can again create some moments of brilliance for the Bokke.
“When we take to the field, Nadine plays brilliantly of me and vice versa. So we should be able to create moments of brilliance in Paris. Hopefully, it will lead to points on the board for the Boks.”
Playing for the Springbok women’s XV, Janse van Rensburg finetuned scoring points to a fine art. In 22 tests, she has notched up 220 points. To use the legendary words of Frik du Preez, she is possibly the only female Springbok to have dropped, scored and placed in tests.
As to being on the verge of becoming an Olympian, Janse van Rensburg said that when the 2016 Sevens rugby was played for the first time at the Games, it triggered something.
“I felt that I would want to be part of it. I knew I would have to give it my all if I wanted to play for the Boks. The reality, however, at the time was that I was only playing rugby because I had a bursary to study at Tuks. It was only after I had finished my studies that I fully committed to playing.”
Earlier this year, during the HSBC Sevens Tournament in Vancouver, Roos scored in all five games. She also kicked two conversions and was amongst the team’s leading tacklers over all three days.
The Springbok sevens coach, Renfred Dazel, could not help but sing her praises.
“Her personality is such that she wants to be a winner and always gives her best, which is quite a lot for someone with her talent. She also fulfils a strong leadership role. Nadine really wants to compete against the best in the world.”
Kemi Baloyi captained Tuks to win the inaugural Varsity Women’s Sevens Tournament 2019. She played for the Boks Sevens during the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Marlize de Bruin has quit netball to focus on playing sevens rugby in 2022. Doing so, she proved that ‘change is as good as a holiday’. At the end of the year, she played for the Boks at the Sevens World Cup in Cape Town.
There were often references to De Bruin being South Africa’s fittest netball player. She has the distinction of being part of teams that won every major local netball tournament.
Liske Lategan is the fifth Tuks player who will play for the Boks in Paris. She was also selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Lategan is the niece of Pieter Hendricks, the winger who scored the first try for the Springboks during the 1995 World Cup Tournament.