The Springbok Women's Sevens have endure an injury-hit World Championship campaign.
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The Springbok Women's Sevens left the HSBC SVNS Valladolid tournament with renewed confidence after securing ninth place, but coach Cecil Afrika's biggest concern may be the names piling up on his injury list.
South Africa ended the weekend on a high with victories over Argentina and Brazil, having also pushed Fiji close, as they improved on their 12th-place finish in Hong Kong earlier this month. However, fresh injury concerns surrounding Byrhandré Dolf and Lerato Makua have cast a shadow over those encouraging performances ahead of the season-ending World Championship event in Bordeaux.
Afrika confirmed he is awaiting medical assessments on both players, while Shanidené Bezuidenhout remains sidelined as she recovers from surgery.
"Lerato did not play on Sunday and Dolf left the field against Brazil, so we will have to wait on those options," said Afrika.
The latest setbacks come after injuries severely disrupted South Africa's preparations before the World Championship phase had even begun.
Captain and chief playmaker Nadine Roos, along with Simamkele Namba, Liske Lategan, Shannon-Leigh Windvogel and Patience Mokone, were all unavailable for the opening tournament in Hong Kong, forcing Afrika to rely heavily on inexperienced players. To make matters worse, Asisipho Plaatjies suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon in Hong Kong.
Despite those challenges, the Bok Women have shown steady signs of improvement.
"We improved due to having time together on the training field and the squad becoming a tight-knit group," Afrika said.
The coach believes they learnt valuable lessons from a difficult campaign and praised the development of younger players such as debutant Jané Mulder.
"We are still making silly mistakes and errors of judgement, but lots of lessons were learned, and we should come back stronger," he said.
"We have grown nicely as a group, and it showed what was achieved back in Stellenbosch. We are going to France with the knowledge that we are on an upward curve."