DURBAN, South Africa — Caressed by a pleasant wind and generally great weather conditions, Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz took to the training pitch yesterday for the first time since arriving here.

Following their arrival on Tuesday following the tortuous trans-Atlantic trip, the coaching staff was forced to concentrate efforts on the recovery of the players, who flew from points in the USA, Europe and Israel starting on Monday.

A planned training session for yesterday morning was repurposed into an in-house session that escalated the recovery process.

But in the evening, the anxious Girlz revelled on the neighbouring training field of the Moses Mabhida Stadium, with the latter creating an imposing backdrop.

The Moses Mabhida Stadium, the venue for Sunday’s friendly encounter against hosts South Africa, hosted the semi-final encounter between eventual champions Spain and Germany during the Fifa Men’s World Cup back in 2010.

Meanwhile, assistant coach Lorne Donaldson described the enterprising hour-long training session as “nice”, adding that the Girlz looked “lively”.

“Everybody seem to have their legs back… in the session we did a lot of finishing which would get the juice running and everybody excited and you could see the enthusiasm in the players and I think everybody is excited to be here.

“I think by nature these Girlz are competitive and that started with the first ball we rolled out today (yesterday),” he said.

Top striker Khadija Shaw, captain Konya Plummer and Olufolasade Adamolekun did not participate in the more hectic routines as they had arrived at the team base about six hours prior.

Starting today, the three are expected to step in line as the technical staff ups the tempo with two sessions — one in the morning and another in the afternoon — in keeping with the camp component of the tour to this seaside city of Durban.

“We are going to have two training sessions tomorrow (today) and I think it’s going to be competitive in both sessions. I think we can push ourselves a little harder and that will be the deal, and the next couple of days we will taper it down and then get ourselves ready for the game.

“Yes, we will start to focus on South Africa, but we have to also focus on us… we are going to be working on a couple of things defensively as a team, our co-ordination and positioning, and to make sure we are fluent, so that’s the theme tomorrow (today) and maybe a few set pieces,” Donaldson told the Jamaica Observer.

The exercise in South Africa, importantly, will give players one more shot at selection for the final 23, who will head to France for the World Cup June 7- July 7. And as decision day draws near, Donaldson admits it will be a difficult process, but the reality dictates that not all players will make the cut.

“As coaches we will have to be as fair and honest as we can, but feelings are going to get hurt, but in the long run, we have to do what’s best for the team and Jamaica,” Donaldson stated.

Jamaica, who became the first nation from the Caribbean to qualify for the Women’s World Cup, will contest Group C against Brazil, Italy and Australia.

South Africa, also making their debut, will dispute Group B with Spain, China and Germany.