Vets Now rugby star helps kick off Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday celebrations in South Africa
Vets Now Regional Business Manager, Donna Kennedy, has returned fresh from a successful two week rugby tour of South Africa with the ‘Nomads', a women's rugby team made up of representatives from the UK, Cuba, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
The tour, funded by the South African Government was officially launched on 9 August with the Nomads kicking off the action, playing their first test against the Springbok Women's side as the curtain raiser to the South Africa v Argentina game, part of a series of events in South Africa to mark Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday.
Donna, who is the world record holder of the highest capped women's player title, and most capped player for Scottish rugby commented; "It is a massive honour to play in such an environment; this opportunity very rarely comes round in women's rugby. We won our first match 40 - 34 before moving on to Cape town where we played a midweek provincial game against the Western province which we won 54 - 0. The 2nd test was at Newlands stadium as a curtain raiser before South Africa v New Zealand in Tri Nations cup and we won 29 - 0. I played in both test matches, No 8 in the first test and No 6 in the second."
She added; "One of the highlights of the tour for me was visiting the townships to do coaching sessions with some of the local children. Around 50 children turned up and for me, this was probably the most moving part of the tour. I have never seen such poverty and the enjoyment and pleasure these children got from us spending three hours of our time with was one of the nicest feelings. It was the best three hours of my time I have ever given."
Donna's next challenge is on 6 September when she will be playing for the Wooden Spoon Lionesses, a team comprised of a selection of home nation players who play both in the UK and abroad to raise the profile of the Wooden Spoon charity who help disadvantaged children and young people throughout the UK and Ireland.