The senior women’s 7s rugby team of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) marked Women’s Day in fine style, winning the 2022 FNB UJ Rugby Imbokodo 7s tournament on 9 August 2022 at Milo Park in Westdene, Johannesburg.

The Orange Army played and won all five games against Soweto Academy, Randfontein, University of Pretoria (UP-Tuks), University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) and Soweto Eagles in the final.

“Winning this tournament means a lot to the girls because we have been finishing in second position in the last few tournaments that we played in earlier this year and late last year. Our build-up is starting to show. The players have worked hard and they believe that we can definitely dominate women’s rugby going forward,” said Bongiwe Nhleko, Head Coach: UJ senior women’s rugby team.

Nhleko says they prepared well for the tournament. “The structure was well and we achieved what we wanted to achieve, especially in forming a tight defence. “We went into the tournament with our heads held up high,” explains Nhleko.

The tournament was introduced to celebrate women who play rugby. Annually on Women’s Day, 9 August, various women’s rugby teams are invited to participate in the tournament. This year, in the Under-16 A pool, there were teams such as Greenside, Krugersdorp, Soweto Eagles, Curro Protea and Suiderlig Broncos. Pool B included teams such as Suiderlig Brumbies, Queens, Kagiso Stingers, Bracken High School, Mzinoni.

The Under-18 pool A consisted of teams such as Krugersdorp, Greenside, Soweto Academy and Kagiso.

The senior team pool A comprised Zondi, North West University (NWU) Pukke, Soweto Eagles, Mzinoni and Wits. In pool B there were UJ, UP-Tuks, UKZN, Soweto Rugby and Randfontein.

Greenside High School won the U16 and U18 2022 FNB UJ Rugby Imbokodo 7s tournament.

Living Ball South Africa helped with tournament match balls.