Zintle Mphupha became the first South Africa woman to feature in the England Premier 15s, a club-level league. She did so when she played for Exeter Chief in a losing cause, coming off the bench at the sixty-sixth-minute mark. Although the men’s team has achieved quite a bit of success, both at the club level and internationally, the Springboks women need a little spark to drive home success. Considering how women’s sports have only started to catch up in the nation, it is understandable that young women will need better infrastructures inspirations such as Zintle Mpupha.
Zintle Mpupha on inspiring young women
I'm hoping it's going to bring hope to the other young girls back at home to know that it's not just playing for South Africa women's rugby, there’s bigger things than that to grow your career and your knowledge of the game as well. I wish and hope that it's going to bring hope to the younger girls out there and the other team-mates that I played with that still have the dream to come overseas as well.
Zintle Mpupha on her struggles and her journey in brief
Back at home in the village it's quite tough to play rugby or have access to rugby fields and pursue a rugby career, you have to move, it's not accessible to everyone. After moving I then had to play provincial rugby, but at Border it was sometimes tough to access the gym, to go to the field as well, hence I had to move to Cape Town to have access to the field, a better coaching team and everyday stuff like that.
