Springbok Women's Sevens 'A' coach Cecil Afrika says the developmental value of the Rugby Africa Women's Sevens tournament in Nairobi outweighs the disappointment of a sixth-place finish, with Uganda claiming the title and the HSBC SVNS 3 qualifying berth.
Afrika acknowledged the result fell short of expectations — the squad travelled to Kenya to win — but framed the weekend as a net positive for a young group competing at that level for the first time. Altitude was an added challenge the players had not previously encountered.
"The matches we lost were quite close and the games we won were quite comfortable," Afrika said, noting that the tight losses carried hard but valuable lessons around high-pressure moments that training environments cannot replicate.
Afrika also flagged individual standouts as a key outcome, with several players staking claims for the wider training squad. "Some of the players really put up their hands and this was a perfect opportunity to recognise those players as we don't get a lot of game time," he said, pointing to limited match opportunities as the reason such tournaments carry extra weight for squad selection.