Eloise Webb admits her immediate instinct was to decline when the Springbok Women's Sevens called her in as injury cover, but the 30-year-old dual international answered the call and is now part of the squad heading into this weekend's HSBC SVNS World Championship event in Bordeaux.
Webb had mentally moved on from sevens after missing out on the Paris Olympic squad in 2024 — a particularly painful blow given she had also been part of the group that qualified for Tokyo only to be left out of that travelling party. Her focus this year had been a full fifteens season, which included helping Sanlam Boland Dames reach their first Pick n Pay Women's Super League final.
"The call to join the squad for Hong Kong was unexpected and my immediate instinct was to opt out, not only because of what happened in 2024 and the Olympic rejection, but also because I know how taxing sevens is on the body," Webb said from Bordeaux. "I was training for a season of fifteens and to suddenly be called into a sevens regime was not what I anticipated or prepared for."
Despite those reservations, she joined the squad in the week they departed for Hong Kong, the first of three World Championship legs. At that tournament the Bok Women finished 12th, though Webb played a direct role in setting up the match-winning try against Great Britain.
The injury toll that prompted her recall came during the HSBC SVNS 2 circuit — played across Kenya, Uruguay and Brazil — which the Bok Women navigated successfully, finishing in the top four to qualify for the World Championship. The series itself followed African Championship gold in Ghana and a tournament-topping performance at the Dubai qualifier, a sequence that secured their return to tier one status.
Core status for the 2027 season is at stake in Bordeaux, where South Africa face France, New Zealand and Argentina in pool play. Webb, who has represented South Africa at Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018 and 2022 and at the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2022 and 2025, acknowledged the physical cost of the switch but said the pull of the green-and-gold overrode her hesitation.
"Playing for your country remains the biggest honour and service," she said.