Springbok Women's matches against Canada provide a litmus test of team's growth
The Springbok Women have been on a steep upward trajectory across the last year but received a reality check against Canada at Loftus Versfeld last weekend, suffering a 50-20 loss. They face the same opponents in Gqeberha on Saturday, 12 July.
The Bok Women have grown significantly since experienced coach Swys de Bruin and former Junior Springbok coach Bafana Nhleko have been at the mantle since August last year.
The coaching changes were put in place with the goal of the team reaching new heights at the Rugby World Cup 2025, which gets underway next month in England.
So far, everything has run smoothly. But for the first time in 11 months, the team have faced their biggest hurdle and suffered their biggest defeat in that time against second-ranked Canada.
Outplayed
The Springbok Women were completely outplayed at Loftus, with Canada creating linebreaks seemingly at will. The first half was particularly poor from the national women's side, as they were lucky to go into the break only 26-3 down.
The breakdown was a mess as well, with the Bok Women at sea, conceding penalty after penalty in the first 40 minutes.
'We gave away four soft tries and that was 28 points gone,' De Bruin said after the match. 'Against a team like Canada, who is really skilful and have a good style of rugby, that is never going to give you the result you want.
'Also, six of the first seven penalties against us were for breakdown infringements, and that is something we will have to look at this coming week.'
They came out with a renewed intensity in the second stanza and scored 17 points, although the defence still had gapping holes, conceding 24 points.
Still improving
Since De Bruin took the reins, the Bok Women were within a bounce of a ball away from beating Australia and Italy, two teams also much higher on the rankings than the Boks, in sixth and eighth respectively.
South Africa (SA) is languishing in 12th place. While SA wasn't able to replicate the form they have displayed recently, which include a 48-26 over Spain earlier this year, De Bruin remains pleased about the progress his side has made.
'Last time we played Canada, they won 66-7 and [we] showed that we are closing the gap,' he said. 'The improvement is real and the whole purpose of this match was to show us where our weaknesses are, and we are doing well.
'The same will apply next weekend [against Canada] and when we play the Black Ferns XV in a couple of weeks' time. If we learn from the lessons and eliminate them, we will keep improving as we get closer to the Rugby World Cup.'
The positive for the Springbok Women is that their scrum remains one of the most powerful in the game as they dismantled the Canadian pack nearly every time of asking.
De Bruin also opted to move dynamic playmaker Nadine Roos to scrumhalf around the 60-minute mark. It allowed SA's most skillful ball player regular access to the pill.
Roos has been shifted around the backline spine under De Bruin. He played Roos at flyhalf across the WXV2 last year, before shifting her back to the 15 jumper against Canada and then moving her to scrumhalf.
'I am happy to play wherever the coach wants me to play and it went well when I moved from fullback to scrumhalf in the second half,' Roos said. 'I just want to be around the ball and where the action is, and I'm happy that I got that chance.'
Rugby World Cup
Every dart being thrown at the board by De Bruin is to see what sticks and what can be implemented at the World Cup in England next month. There the team has a chance to reach the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time.
SA has Brazil, Italy and France in their group. They are expected to beat 28th-ranked Brazil, but then should not be reliant on the bounce of the ball to defeat Italy.
Their final group game against fourth-ranked France will not have any consequence if they do achieve that. If not, they will need to beat France.
The team's next showing against Canada will provide a solid indication of how close the Springbok Women are to defeating the upper echelon of teams. DM
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