Bok Women’s win over Black Ferns a confidence booster for World Cup

Springbok Women coach Swys de Bruin applauded his side after they outplayed New Zealand’s Black Ferns at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday night to end their Rugby World Cup preparations on a positive note.

De Bruin said the 41-24 victory, overturning a 34-26 defeat from the previous weekend, provided a number of positive outcomes for the coaches and players.

“I think we are now close to where we wanted to be a few weeks out from the Rugby World Cup,” said De Bruin.

“The team really played well and executed the tweaks we made very well, and that delivered not only a winning result, but also a boost of confidence to the squad and management.

“We worked hard to get to this point and I can honestly say this was one of the best performances we [have] had since I joined the squad just over a year ago.”

De Bruin said the players took responsibility on themselves to change last weekend’s result and made a mental switch for the second game.

“It started with our jersey presentation when Babalwa [Latsha] made a wonderful speech to the team and they embraced the message she delivered — that it was time to take the opportunities they create. They showed exactly that today — it was such an inspiring performance.”

De Bruin said their World Cup preparation was now complete and they could finally focus on their next task, the opening match against Brazil in Northampton on August 24.

“The coaches are happy we got our combinations and spine right and we can go to the World Cup 99% sure of what we need to do to have the best performance ever. We needed this win and the way we did it was an extra boost.”

For Latsha, the victory meant SA have a positive mindset going into the World Cup.

“We know the disappointment from last week when we did not execute and the joys of the win this week when we did,” she said.

Nadine Roos, who started at scrumhalf on Saturday, said the performance was a personal highlight.

“I was not happy about my performance last weekend and on Monday I said to myself I would prepare to play the best game I could and assist my team the best way I could,” said Roos.

“I decided no-one was going to get past me and no-one did. I am very happy we could pull off the win and that I could contribute towards that.”

Experienced flanker Sinazo Mcatshulwa said the physicality of the Springbok Women was easy to maintain.

“Every session we have, from Monday to Thursday, is a physical one, so we don’t mind going to that dark place on a match day either. This was rewarding to all of us.”

The Springbok Women squad for the World Cup will be announced on Saturday. 

SA Rugby media