Sometimes all it takes to progress to the next stage of a sporting career is to listen, accept feedback, and correct mistakes.

That was certainly true for 10 Alex Wolves Rugby Club U18 girls, according to coach Bongumenzi Mbatha. Discipline and a willingness to apply their coaches’ advice earned the young stars from the local club a place in the Golden Lions’ U18 squad and a trip to the FNB U18 girls’ week, which took place from July 4 to 10 in the Eastern Cape.

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“They showed everything that we taught them here on the field,” Mbatha said. “After every game we play, we go back to our training sessions and speak about everything that went wrong. Then, they try to fix everything.”

The selected girls went through a rigorous process before making the cut for the Golden Lions, Mbatha revealed. “We had six weeks of playing and six weeks of selecting players. After that, we had the high-performance phase, which lasted about three weeks. It was to check if they could meet all the required playing forms we wanted.”

Of the three games they played in the tournament, Mbatha said they won two and lost one. First, they secured an impressive 26–10 win over Eastern Cape-based Borders in their opening fixture on July 6.

Despite the strong start to the week-long tournament, they suffered a narrow 12–10 loss to Western Province on July 8, but bounced back with a commanding 25–6 win against the Mpumalanga-based Pumas on July 10. Mbatha reflected on his players’ performance as part of the Lions’ squad, including the club’s flyhalf, Alice Ncube, who made the cut for the first-ever SA schools girls’ squad.

This came on the back of the already strong performance shown by the local club’s U16 players, who also made the cut to play in the FNB U16 girls’ week in KwaZulu-Natal, which ran from June 30 to July 4.

Also read: Alex trio earns Golden Lions U20 stripes in hard-fought provincial campaign

Although the Lions’ U16 squad had a tougher run in the tournament, they showed resilience. In their opening game, they suffered a nervy 17–18 loss to the Blue Bulls, but later secured an impressive 38–5 win against Eastern Province before falling 0–10 to KwaZulu-Natal in their last game on July 4.

“When they told us that our first game would be against the Blue Bulls, I thought it was going to be hard,” said U16 player Thando Nhleko. “We knew we had to work, and [the players] spoke about applying what we practised in training on the field.”

For township-based rugby stars, the tournament was crucial because it serves as a direct pathway to the coveted opportunity of SA schools girls, and, eventually, into the Springboks, according to Mbatha.

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