NEW Springbok Women performance coach Swys de Bruin has urged his team to play “fearlessly” in order to become world-beaters.
The South Africans dominated physically, but made a few mistakes in their 36-19 victory over Spain at Cape Town Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Test served as preparation for the upcoming WXV 2 tournament in the Mother City, with the Boks facing Japan on Friday at Cape Town Stadium (4pm start), followed by Australia on October 5 and Italy a week later, both at Athlone Stadium.
The Boks showed tremendous character in defence in the opening stages against Spain, who launched a number of attacks on the tryline, but were unable to break through.
The South Africans’ greater physicality took hold gradually, and despite a 20th-minute Spanish try, the hosts got going through No 8 Aseza Hele’s surge off the back of a scrum to dot down, with the Player of the Match bursting through a few tackles.
A brace by hooker Lindelwa Gwala off the back of line-out drives put the South Africans well ahead at 19-7 after 55 minutes, and tries by fullback Libbie Janse van Rensburg – which took her past the 200-point mark, the first SA player to do so – robust lock Vainah Ubisi, and an intercept by wing Shaunique Hess completed the scoring.
The moment Libbie Janse van Rensburg made history for the Springbok Women 😤
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While De Bruin was happy with the overall performance, as well as the combination between Janse van Rensburg and flyhalf Nadine Roos, they will need to fine-tune a few areas before Friday’s clash with Japan.
“It was new for Libbie (who is normally a flyhalf) at 15, and at a stage I was tempted to move her. But I kept her on a bit longer, and suddenly she found her feet, because that is how I want us to counter-attack,” De Bruin said.
“What I found, especially with the ladies, is that they are much more sensitive if they make a mistake. So, they must learn to play fearlessly. If they make a mistake, it’s nothing.
“It’s one thing I’m learning as well. If we can become a fearless team, we can really go places with this team.
“They are getting there, and that combination is a good combination. It was the first time ever, and decision-making on the counter-attack and splitting the defence, I saw much more positives than negatives.
“One work-on is support; how do you support the ball-carrier, because that wasn’t good enough. If we get momentum, then it worked. But when it’s an equal tackle-fight, then we were sometimes too late.
“The Japanese are small and quick, and they will irritate us at the breakdowns, so we need to be much better with our clean and blast, and need to find out why that happened – whether we were tired or what.
“I was a bit disappointed with the errors, and I don’t know if it was the wind. But overall, very happy.”
Player of the Match Hele was reluctant to accept the plaudits for a typically aggressive display, where her potent carries dented the Spanish defence.
“It’s just me... I’m just being me! With the help of my teammates, and the work that we put in during training, because the training is so tough, the way you train is the way you play,” she said.
“We give each other a tough time in training so that we can perform on the field. It’s not me, it’s my special team.
Aseza Hele's power 😳🔥
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 19, 2024
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“At training, the competition is very tight. We scrum eight against eight, and we are fighting for each other.”
Points scorers
Springbok Women 36 – Tries: Aseza Hele, Lindelwa Gwala (2), Libbie Janse van Rensburg, Vainah Ubisi, Shaunique Hess. Conversions: Jakkie Cilliers (3)
Spain Women 19 – Tries: Amalia Argudo, Martina Marquez, Zahia Perez. Conversions: Argudo, Naroa Azpitarte