Cape Town - Winning eleven matches in a row over the last two weekends in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series secured the Springbok Women's Sevens team a place as a core team in next season's revamped Sevens Series.
A mammoth effort on defence, coupled with a late try on Sunday, secured a 17-14 comeback win over Belgium in the tournament's final match after they beat the same opponents a week ago to clinch the first round.
This means the Bok Women's Sevens will now compete with the best sevens sides in the world, like New Zealand, Australia and England, regularly in the seven tournaments scheduled for the 2024 season.
Renfred Dazel, Springbok Women's Sevens coach, is one of the coaches who have been trying for years to get the team qualified, alongside former coach Paul Delport, and finally achieved this feat.
"Whenever you play with a Springbok on your chest, your opponents need to understand that you will never stop fighting and never stop trying," Dazel said after his side's gold medal victory.
"The courage shown by our women here was a testament to that and reflected on the character of this team. They trained months for this, it was hard work and many early mornings, but that moulded them in this team spirit of not giving up.
The Springbok Women Sevens team are through to the World sevens Series after defeating Belgium by 17-14 in the final of the World Rugby Sevens Series in Stellenbosch.
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"I am very proud of that, and I think they made South Africa proud today."
What worked this time around for Dazel and his team is that they had three months together as a team to prepare adequately for the challenges of the Challenger Series.
In the past, the availability of players hampered them in their quest to qualify, but SA Rugby's renewed focus on women's rugby helped Dazel and his coaches to achieve their goal.
This showed on the field as the South Africans scored 68 points in the group stages this past weekend, while only conceding five points in the three games.
During the playoffs, they only conceded a further two tries in the final against Belgium, keeping their opponents in the quarter- and semi-final, Colombia and Czechia, scoreless.
Dazel, a former Blitzboks assistant coach, could also call on the expertise of retired Springbok Sevens players Cecil Afrika and Chris Dry to help him prepare his team.
Afrika and Dry have been actively involved in coaching since they hung up their boots and assisted the team at various stages of their journey.
"We also collaborated with the Blitzboks and their knowledge, especially on how they prepare for three-day tournaments, which we copied in our preparations.
"The reward is there for all to enjoy and be proud of, so I want to thank all of those that walked this journey from the beginning of the year as well."
Selected Springbok Women's results:
Quarter-final: South Africa 31, Colombia 0
Semi-final: South Africa 24, Czechia 0
Final: South Africa 17, Belgium 14
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