Windvogel and Makua called up to Bok Women's Sevens squad for SVNS 2 in Nairobi

The team retains most of the core players, led by Cecil Afrika, who will depart for Kenya on Tuesday evening.

Windvogel replaces the injured Vianca Boer, while Lerato Makua steps in for Zintle Mpupha, her Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 and Isuzu Bulls Daisies teammate, who is on provincial duty. Ten players from last month's victorious Dubai squad, which secured South Africa's progression to the next qualifying phase, are included in the Nairobi lineup.

"I am happy with the squad," said Afrika.

"The players worked really hard over the last couple of weeks to get ready for this competition and I am happy for them; they are determined to do well and start the qualification process on a good note. We prepared well and we are ready for this unique challenge.

"Shannon-Lee is still young, but very talented and if she looks well after herself and stays disciplined, she will have a long career with us. She is very dynamic and fully fit again after a long struggle with injury. She did well when offered the opportunity in the Dubai International Invitational tournament in November and I am pleased for her.

"Lerato is back in the sevens fray and she will do well, such is her skill set and natural ability. She is quickly adapting to playing sevens again and will reach her full potential very soon."

The format of the tournament, where the six participating sides play each other once and only log points are on offer, is new, but Afrika knows it will be the same for all the teams.

"It will be a bit different from the format that we are used to during the normal world series, where your pool matches are followed by the knock-out phase," said Afrika.

"It does make every match very important as points difference and bonus points are also up for the taking. A losing bonus point could turn out to be very valuable and a slip-up here can come back to bite you in the final tournament, so we need to take every match on its merits and make sure we pitch up every time."

Playing in Nairobi will not be foreign for the South Africans, as they travelled to the Kenyan capital last year, where they won the Rugby Africa Women's Sevens Championship.

"It does help knowing the lay of the land a bit," said Afrika. "We will stay at the same hotel as last time and although we play in a different stadium, things like traffic and training venues will also be familiar to us."

Afrika feels they have the talent and ability to get the desired results from their matches against Brazil, Spain, Kenya, China and Argentina: "We have played against all of them in the last two seasons and had wins and losses, so we know it will be up to our execution on the day.

"We had recent wins over Kenya and Argentina and were just edged by Brazil in the Dubai International Invitational tournament."

The first match against Spain will have some sting in it, according to Afrika: "They beat us in Madrid in 2024 and that defeat dropped us out of the world series for this season. That stung and we wanted to play them again, so we now have this opportunity."

Springbok Women's Sevens squad: Leigh Fortuin, Asisipho Plaatjies, Patience Mokone, Maria Tshiremba, Nadine Roos (captain), Byrhandre Dolf, Liske Lategan, Simamkele Namba, Shiniqwa Lamprecht, Ayanda Malinga, Lerato Makua, Shannon-Lee Windvogel.

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