Springbok Women are on the right track despite defeat to Aussies

The Springbok Women came within a converted try – in the dying minutes of their WXV2 match against Australia – of recording one of their greatest results yet.

The Bok Women went down 33-26 but were camped on Australia’s tryline, clawing their way towards the whitewash before Aussie flanker Ashley Marsters pulled off a brilliant breakdown turnover.

It ends an incredible run of victories by the Springbok Women that includes the Barbarians, Spain and Japan — the latter coming last week in their opening WXV2 clash.

Despite the score sheet stating a loss to Australia, the performance and result against such a formidable side speaks to the vast improvements the Boks have recently made.

“I’m so, so proud of them,” Bok Women performance coach Swys de Bruin said after the match. “The guts they showed…

“We have played Australia three times in the past and never managed to score a try against them.

“We scored four today and were held up for a fifth, which is not bad against a side that could easily have been playing in the WXV1 tournament right now.

“It was a performance that leaves us with good pointers on where to improve and we learnt that you have to be clinical against the top sides in the world.”

Slow start

The Bok Women started off slowly, conceding an early 14-0 lead after Australia scored two quick tries.

The second try was set up by a break, through winger Maya Stewart who found herself in acres of space due to poor defensive shape by the Springboks, who found themselves a player short on the outside.

It would happen a few more times in the match, with wingers Stewart and Desiree Miller getting on the score sheet in the second half in the same fashion.

De Bruin, though, put it down to individual mistakes on the field instead of the defensive system in place.

“Yes, we came up short with that (wide defence) today,” he said. “But that was individual errors rather than the system lacking.

“A player missing a tackle cannot be the fault of the defence coach, for example, and we missed too many on the flanks, allowing their speedy wings to score very impressive tries.”

At 33-12 down with fewer than 10 minutes to play, the writing seemed on the wall for the Springbok Women, but they fought back excellently with their own “bomb squad”.

Two quick tries – by hard-running outside centre Zintle Mpupha and replacement hooker Micke Gunter off the back of a driving maul – within five minutes of each other meant the hosts had a chance of a miraculous draw.

It wasn’t to be, however, despite centimetres separating the team from history.

“They really showed tremendous guts out there and that made me very, very proud,” De Bruin said.

“They just refused to accept defeat and the fact that we came a metre short of squaring the match showed the determination.

Read more: Bok Women look to use WXV 2 as a foundation with an eye on World Cup

“We were literally a pass away from that final try after being seemingly down and out with 15 minutes to play.

“Much credit must go to the players, who just refused to lie down.”

De Bruin, however, was not too dejected about the result, having only taken over the reins two months ago.

“We have a saying in our team – ‘what happens to us, happens for us’,” the coach said. “If it was meant to be, we would have scored there at the end.”

South Africa take on Italy next Saturday at Athlone Stadium in their final outing in this year’s WXV2 competition. DM