The SA Select Women rugby sevens side secured third place at the Hokkaido Sevens in Japan on Saturday after bouncing back strongly from a narrow defeat against Waikato in the semi-final.

Coach Renfred Dazel’s team entered the second day’s play unbeaten following convincing victories against the Pearls from Tokyo and Australia’s Queensland side, but a 7-5 defeat against New Zealand’s Waikato outfit in the semi-final knocked them out of the running to win the title.

The semi-final was hard-fought as both teams gave everything on attack and defence, and in the end, a successful conversion by the New Zealander’s proved to be the difference on the scoreboard.

The SA Select Women, however, again showed their class in the battle for third place against Japanese club side, Otemon, as they dominated proceedings with their skilful attack and supported this with a solid defensive effort, for a convincing 33-5 victory.

These results contributed to an impressive showing overall in the tournament in which the team scored an impressive 154 points in their five matches and conceded only 10.

SA Select Women’s day-two results at the Hokkaido Sevens:

SA Select 5-7 Waikato

SA Select 33-5 Otemon