Two Titans off to SAs 7s camp

RUGBY NEWS - Two players from the Titans Women's Rugby Academy (TWRA), Faith Gosling and Zandile Masuku, were recently called up to the Springbok Women's Sevens Commonwealth Games training squad.

They took part in the first training camp in Stellenbosch from 19 to 24 June, with a second coming next week.

The duo are key parts of the TWRA set-up, but have slightly contrasting careers within the academy. Gosling has been a part of the TWRA since 2011, when she joined as a junior through one of the academy's development programmes, while Masuku moved to Knysna from Tzaneen (where she grew up) in 2020 to join TWRA to further develop her game in pursuit of a career in rugby.

Growing up, both players represented their respective rugby unions at various age group levels. Gosling has played for SWD at U16 and U18 levels as well as the senior women's team while Masuku has represented both the Limpopo Blue Bulls and the Blue Bulls at various age group and senior levels.

Two fast, dynamic and powerful players, they joined forces at TWRA after Masuku's move in 2020 and eventually in 2021 within the senior SWD EaGirls setup as well.

Gosling

Gosling's selection to the Springbok Women's Sevens (Imbokodo) Commonwealth Games training squad isn't her first foray into the national SA Rugby structures as she has previously taken part in U16, U18 high performance training camps as well as the U20 SA side in 2018.

Last month Gosling (23) was also included as a non-travelling reserve in the Imbokodo squad for the Women's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, which meant she couldn't fulfil her selection to the SWD EaGirls squad this year.

"It's been an incredible experience. The camp was tough, a lot of hard work, but it is all so rewarding," Gosling said of last week's camp. "The experience gained was unimaginable, they analyse everything and we all try to set a very high standard. It's all extremely tight within the squad at the moment, anyone can still make it into the final squad for the Commonwealth Games."

Zandile Masuku makes a break while playing for Gaztedi.

Masuku

Masuku's selection, on the other hand, is her first participation in any national structure. "I really didn't expect it, but I've been working really hard and it really means so much to me," she said. Her move in 2020 came off the back of a year where she took a break from rugby. However, she remains glad that she made the move.

"I feel like I definitely made the right move from Tzaneen to Knysna; it has provided me with so many opportunities." Masuku (23) has also played rugby abroad, spending some time with Gaztedi Rugby Taldea in Spain.

Speaking of the camp, Masuku also emphasised the value of the experience.

"They taught us a lot, and have given me a lot of aspects of my game to improve and work on," she said. Masuku is doing rehabilitation for an injury she sustained in Spain though. "I'm doing quite a bit of rehab along with the training, so I'm doing quite a bit of running, but it is all so valuable and worth it."

The current training squad will be trimmed by the time the final squad is announced for the Commonwealth Games set to take place in England in July and August.

Faith Gosling during training with TWRA.