Tuks Women 7’s tour to France (16-21 May 2015)

The Tuks Women 7’s travelled to France from 16 to 21 May and participated in two high-level tournaments: the Stanislas 7’s in Nancy and the Centrale 7’s in Paris.

Stanislas 7’s (16-17 May)

The Tuks Women 7’s team won the Plate Final at the Stanislas 7’s that took place in Nancy on 16 and 17 May. The team was competing against 13 teams from France, Hungary, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and Romania. The Women Cup final was won by Romania.
With the Belhar Rockets and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) men rugby teams, two other South African teams participated in the tournament. The Belhar Rockets made it to the finals, where they lost against RVD Rubgy (Germany) 10:12.

Centrale 7’s (20-21 May)

The team then travelled to Paris, where they participated in the Centrale 7’s (20-21 May). At the end of this tournament, the Tuks Ladies were awarded the Fair Play Award out of 24 teams from France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine.
Three South African men’s teams also participated in this international tournament: the University of the Western Cape, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the Belhar Rockets.

Day 1 of the Centrale 7’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02gWJApUbD4
Day 2 of the Centrale 7’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjnSEsZr97w

The Tuks Women 7’s came back to Pretoria with a lot of good memories from their experience in France. For the 8 new players in the team, the exposure to a high level of play was a great experience that will improve the team’s performance in the long run.

Last year, the French U20 Women’s Sevens team came to South Africa from 4 to 14 July 2014, hosted by the Bulls Rugby Union. They played against the Tuks Ladies 7’s and the Bulls Ladies 7’s in Pretoria.