RUGBY NEWS - A Mossel Bay girl was the player of the tournament in the South African Rugby Youth Week girls' inter-provincial tournament held in Welkom this month.

The achievement by Edwaline Dickson, who attends Indwe Secondary School in town, is all the more remarkable because 16 regions from throughout South Africa, as well as a Zimbabwe contingent, were involved in the tournament, and Dickson has only been playing rugby since May last year. The tournament, which is for U18s, is the girls' equivalent of Craven Week.

Dickson plays in the No 8 position.

She could not attend the tournament last year because she was not old enough for the U18 age group.

There were 23 girls in the South Western Districts squad that attended the tournament and a large proportion of these were from Mossel Bay. Besides Dickson, the Mossel Bay girls included Gaylin Jacobs, Ashley Ann Meyer, Juanine Jacobs, Zenobia Taute and Andi Kittas, all of Sao Bras High School.

The SWD U18 rugby girls practise at the Youth Training Centre (YTC) at Outeniqua Park Stadium in George.

All the regional girls' rugby initiatives by SARU countrywide are called Youth Training Centres and they are for U16s and U18s. The next prominent event on the girls' agenda is the Youth Training Centre Games, which will take place in Bloemfontein in the first week of August.

Although the SWD girls lost their three matches in Welkom, they played well and coach Riaan Lameley and YTC administrator for SWD Sihle Diko are extremely proud of them because the girls' rugby initiative only began recently in SWD.

Speaking of Dickson's achievement, Lamely said: "Nurturing this type of talent is exciting. This is what being a coach is all about. Edwaline will definitely be a Springbok one day."

Mossel Bay's Edwaline Dickson is a rapidly rising star in South African girls' rugby. Here she is congratulated by a SARU official in Welkom this month.

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