Springbok Women’s Sevens rugby player Liske Lategan only began playing competitive rugby at university. Now, six years later, she is a key member of the side about to enter the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, which will compete against the world’s top teams for the first time since 2015.
Springbok Sevens rugby player Liske Lategan is currently based in Stellenbosch at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport, where she lives and trains. PHOTO: Daniel Roodt
For Springbok Women’s Sevens rugby player Liske Lategan, rugby runs in the family, but making it a full-time pursuit was never on the cards, she says.
Liske comes from “rugby royalty”, says her sprint coach and agent, Johan Germishuis. She is the niece of former Springbok winger Peter Hendriks, who scored the first try at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. There was a running joke in the family that Peter’s son would end up in the Springboks, “but [instead], it’s a girl in the family”, says Liske.
Her uncle’s influence didn’t lead her to rugby, though. Rather, Liske’s entry into competitive rugby was by chance and much later than most professional athletes, she says.
Rugby roots
Growing up in Groblersdal in Limpopo, surrounded by farms and open space, Liske was able to get comfortable with a rugby ball long before she played it at university. “When we were kids, I played rugby with my brothers and friends,” says Liske.
Liske describes herself as an athletic person, which helped lay the foundation for her rugby career, she says. “I did lots of sports in school. So, I’m used to running, and I’m quite fast.”
“She’s a super athlete. I think if it wasn’t for rugby, I could have made her a sprinter,” says Johan.
“She’s a specimen; she’s a racehorse,” says Johan Germishuis, Springbok Women’s Sevens rugby player Liske Lategan’s sprint coach and agent. PHOTO: Daniel Roodt
After matriculating in 2016, she attended the University of Pretoria (Tuks) the following year to pursue an education degree, she says. “I went to university and I had no intention of playing rugby,” says Liske.
However, in her second year at Tuks (2018), there was a residence meeting in March, where two players from the Tuks Women’s 7s team came to promote the sport. Liske thought to herself, “it sounds exciting because they’re travelling the world and stuff”.
“One evening, I decided to go to training. I pitched up with my tekkies, and then after one practice, the coach said I should get some [rugby] boots,” says Liske.
Two months later, she was selected for the Tuks squad to travel to France, and rugby has become a constant part of her life ever since, she says.
Balancing the Bo(o)ks
Liske debuted for the Springboks Sevens side while she was still at university, at the African Cup in 2019. “That was a really special moment, knowing I made it to the highest level of the sport,” she says.
Balancing her education and her rugby career proved to be a challenge, she says. Some lecturers were extremely supportive, but others weren’t as lenient, states Liske. “You had those that were a bit difficult. Saying, ‘no, you can’t miss this, you can’t miss that’.”
She says she isn’t sure how she managed to get through it. But, it was easier to train during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in 2020, as education students weren’t expected to complete as many teaching practicals, explains Liske.
After finishing studying in 2021, she was able to pursue sevens rugby full-time, a luxury many players don’t have, says Johan. “If you didn’t have somebody who supported you or a bit of back up and from the family side of everything, it’s tough,” he adds.
Liske Lategan’s faith plays a big part in her life as it helps remind her that “everything will work out how it’s supposed to work out”, she says. Pictured is Liske with her sprint coach Johan Germishuis during a training session at the Coetzenburg Athletics Stadium. PHOTO: Daniel Roodt
Repping the green and gold
Liske has been a constant member of the South African sevens set-up since her debut in 2019 and captained the side during the 2022 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Chile.
She was part of the side that won the 2023 Challenger Series, hosted in Stellenbosch. Their victory meant that the team qualified for the upcoming HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, where they’ll compete against the best teams on the planet, Liske explains.
The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is a collection of 10 tournaments played across the world throughout the year and is contested by the top sevens teams in the world. At the end of the series, the lowest-ranked team is relegated from the following season’s tournament. This is according to the World Rugby Sevens Series website
“That was a really special moment. We want to be on that level. We want to play against the top teams in the world,” says Liske.
“You sit in front of the TV and you watch those teams, but it’s something else to be on the field and actually play against them and see what it takes to be on that level,” states Liske.
One of the things Liske Lategan enjoys about playing for the Springboks Women’s Sevens team is that they get to travel the world and see places she would have never visited, she says. Pictured is Liske with her Springbok Sevens teammate Marlize de Bruin before the 2022 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Santiago, Chile. PHOTO: Sourced/Liske Lategan Instagram (@liskelategan).
The qualification for the World Series means that the players will be offered professional contracts, says Johan. This is something the team last achieved in the 2014-15 season, according to the SA Rugby website.
It’s a massive boost for the players, as many have had to balance the demands of rugby with the need to earn an income, Johan says.
Going the extra mile
“[Liske strives] to be the best that she can be and just be better than the previous day,” says Marlize de Bruin, one of Liske’s Springbok teammates.
Liske is working hard to be fully prepared for professional rugby, says Johan. “She is one of the hardest workers who puts in the extra miles,” he adds.
Liske is an “amazing team player”, says Marlize. “She always tries to be everyone’s friend and wants the best for her teammates.”
Liske Lategan joined sprint coach Johan Germishuis’s training group towards the end of 2022 to work on improving her fitness, speed, and agility, says Johan, who is also her agent. The purpose of this extra training is to “give her some more tools” for when she steps onto the rugby field, says Johan. PHOTO: Daniel Roodt
Life after rugby
When the time comes to end her rugby career, Liske plans to combine her passion for education and rugby, she says. She would like to work at a school and coach girls’ rugby because she wants to “give back what [she has] learned through [her] career”, says Liske.
A big part of her drive to coach girls’ rugby is that she believes that for women’s rugby to succeed in South Africa, girls need to be exposed to competitive rugby at a younger age.
In other top rugby nations, they’re playing from a younger age, she says. “They’re playing touch rugby and getting comfortable in a game situation,” says Liske. She points to the Australian and New Zealand sides, who have players as young as 18 years old. “[Whereas] our youngest player is now 23,” she states.
However, at only 25, Liske says she has no plans to hang up her boots anytime soon and is “fully focused” on life as a professional rugby player. The coaching and teaching will come later, but for now, she has her head down and is determined to live by the motto, “work hard in silence, and let success make the noise”.
Springbok Women’s Sevens player Liske Lategan is someone who loves to stay busy, she says. She joined the local CrossFit ‘box’ to keep fit and get stronger outside of her scheduled training sessions, says Liske. PHOTO: Daniel Roodt