Mixed bag for Springbok Women's Sevens ‘A’ in Kenya

The Springbok Women's Sevens ‘A’ side finished in sixth place at the 2026 Rugby Africa’s Women’s Sevens Cup at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi, Kenya after a mixed bag of results that yielded three wins and three defeats.

The South Africans finished the tournament with a 17-12 defeat to Zambia in the fifth-place final on Sunday, while they also started the day poorly by losing 24-17 against Uganda in the quarter-finals. Their only success on day two came in the fifth-place semi-final, where they outplayed Mauritius by 48-0.

On the opening day in their Pool A fixtures, the South Africans outplayed Rwanda 57-0 and Zimbabwe 26-10 but lost 19-14 to Zambia in their final match of the day, conceding a late try to suffer their first defeat of the day.

Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga scored from the kick-off in their opener against Rwanda, with the rest of the team dotting down with regular intervals for an easy first win.

Against Zimbabwe, good attacking plays dictated the result but against Zambia in the final game on Saturday, they held a 14-0 lead before allowing their opponents a come-from-behind win.

In the quarter-finals on Sunday, it was a slow start for Cecil Afrika’s team and although they came back well against the Ugandans, they never looked like winners.

The match against Mauritius was much better as they kept the ball well, but their second defeat to Zambia will not go down well for the squad. They held a 12-0 lead and the Zambians had a player red-carded but the inexperience of the group in closing out matches was clear and they could not seal the result.

Hayley Hardneck was the leading points’ scorer for the South Africans, with 41 from three tries and 13 conversions. Her Boland teammate Kabuika-Ilunga scored six tries, followed by team captain, Vianca Boer, who dotted down five times.

Springbok Women’s Sevens ‘A’ scores

Day one (Pool A)

Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 14 (14), Zambia 19 (12)

Tries: Vianca Boer (2). Conversions: Hayley Hardneck (2).

Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 26 (14), Zimbabwe 10 (5)

Tries: Lilitha Vakalisa, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga, Shanidiné Bezuidenhout, Siphumelele Mdlalose. Conversions: Hayley Hardneck (3).

Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 57 (33), Rwanda 0 (0)

Tries: Jané Mulder (2), Isabella Nel, Vianca Boer, Hayley Hardneck (2), Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga, Siphumelele Mdlalose, Marli George. Conversions: George (2), Hardneck (4).

Day Two (play-offs)

Quarter-final: Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 17 (7), Uganda 24 (17)

Tries: Isabella Nel, Vianca Boer, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga. Conversion: Hayley Hardneck.

Fifth-place semi-final: Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 48 (17), Mauritius 0 (0)

Tries: Isabella Nel, Lilitha Vakalisa, Hayley Hardneck, Jané Mulder, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga (2), Siphumelele Mdlalose, Voice Ndou. Conversions: Marli George (2), Hardneck (2).

Fifth-place final: Bok Women 7s ‘A’ 12 (12), Zambia 17 (0)

Tries: Vianca Boer, Tereské Kabuika-Ilunga. Conversion: Hayley Hardneck.