While the Springbok women may not be expected to emulate a boys’ team when they win the Rugby World Cup, morale is at the highest ever before as they head to the UK tournament (August 22 – September 27).
South Africa heads to the World Cup after winning the second-string Black Fern XV 41-24 at Cape Town in their final home warm-up match.
“I think we’re at a point where now everyone understands each other and the coach understands them, so it doesn’t matter who gets on and off at what stage,” coaches said after the game.
“If the players are a little off… we take players into form. They feel comfortable with each other, and that’s what we wanted.
“They have a lot of confidence, so they needed this game to know they could do that.”
“I think there’s a need for a mental switch,” said the first female athlete in 2020, Babarwa Ratosha, the first professional.
“We had to start believing we could actually win the game – especially towards the World Cup.
Ratosha was captain on the day, but Norcindiso Booy, who missed the match against the injury, was the captain of the side and was selected for my Women’s World Cup team.
South Africa only played their first women’s test in 2004, and women’s games have certainly made slow progress over the past 20 years. The worst moment definitely came when SA Rugby decided not to form a team for the 2017 World Cup due to poor results.
For South African women’s rugby, the next six years have gone a few steps ahead and a few behind.
Ratosha became the first African female rugby player to become professionally in January 2020. In 2023, Bulls’ Daisies became South Africa’s first professional rugby team. At the 2021 World Cup – played belatedly in New Zealand in 2022 – South Africa made Team A into the field but suffered from exiting the pool stage.
Paul Dellport’s resignation as the women’s Sevens head coach and criticism of SA rugby suggested that the old issues behind the scenes of women’s games had not completely disappeared.
However, in the 15th game, it appears that SA Rugby hit the money with DeBruin’s appointment. He took over from former interim manager Louis Kane last year, and De Bruin was one of the unconventional “Performance Coach” until the World Cup. This is due to the fact that he is not only a coach but also a player.
Beneath the wings of the former Lions head coach is the highly regarded Bafana Nureko. For now, the pair are collaborating, but it appears that Nhleko is likely to be the case when SA Rugby appoints a full-time long-term head coach.
South Africa will launch a campaign against Brazil on Sunday. Their other two Pool D opponents are France and Italy. The top two of each pool advance to the quarterfinals.
France – ranked 4th in the world – is a favorite at the top of the pool. Therefore, the match against Italy, seventh on August 31st, could be a decisive game for the Bock women, ranked 12th. They also can’t afford to hit Brazil, ranked 25th.
The Springbok women are still ongoing work and hinted that De Bruin needs to become more clinical after winning the Black Ferns XV, saying, “Did we have five scoring opportunities that didn’t finish?
“It shows you that they are still capable. We are there, but we haven’t arrived.”