Women’s Super League growing, but Daisies remain the benchmark

The Bulls Daisies have become the benchmark in the Pick n Pay Women’s Super League (WSL) after a decisive second-half performance against Western Province on 7 March put them on a four-match winning streak.

The Daisies have claimed three consecutive titles since becoming the first franchise women’s rugby team to award professional contracts in South Africa in 2023. And the chances of a fourth consecutive title is gathering pace.

In 2025, they continued to break barriers by appointing an all-female coaching duo, Bongiwe Nhleko and Zenay Jordaan, part of a broader shift that has transformed the management structure from male-dominated to 90% women over the past three years.

Despite repeated titles and a squad stacked with national players, those inside the Daisies set-up argue that the team’s success is the product of a deliberate professional model, which they believe the rest of women’s rugby must eventually follow.

Contracts and conditioning

To date, the Daisies have contracted 35 players to the union.

On top of earning a liveable wage, the Daisies have also set up a high-performance centre in Pretoria overseen by Thando Manana, head of women’s rugby in the Bulls camp.

“When I started the project we had three months of no income for the girls, but we provided accommodation [and] we provided meals,” Manana said.

“Once we got there it was a matter of just changing the attitude and teaching them about professionalism.

“They were never used to being up at half past eight, already in three meetings with a pen and paper taking notes and doing technical analysis.”

Now, the Daisies are supported with strength and conditioning programmes, and full-time medical staff.

“We run a full-on programme, which means that any ladies that get called up to the national set-up is not short of conditioning, is not short of skill level, is not short of professionalism,” Manana said.

Women’s rugby may not yet be fully professional, but the foundations are steadily taking shape.

South African Rugby Union (Saru) chief executive Rian Oberholzer confirmed that 120 women players have been centrally contracted so far.

Currently, a leading Springbok woman can earn R800,000 per year with a R20,000 match fee, for a total of R1.2-million.

From a provincial point of view, Manana hopes to one day pay his players the equivalent of the minimum amount a United Rugby Championship (URC) player might earn, which is roughly R40,000 per month.

But that requires continued investment in women’s rugby.

Clean sheet

Saru’s principal partner coming on board signifies more than just a new title sponsor. It marks the transition from a purely provincial competition to a commercial product.

Launched in 2026, the rebranded and expanded Pick n Pay WSL is the successor to the Women’s Premier Division.

“We realised that we must have a professional women’s league if we want to be successful at World Rugby competitions (Rugby World Cup),” Oberholzer said. “We decided not to establish a professional women’s set-up using the men’s game’s model.

“We agreed that starting a competition with four professional teams, centrally controlled and contracted by Saru – we appoint the coaches, players and other staff – was the way to go.”

For the Daisies, the franchise league serves as an important platform for young players to develop their skills and establish themselves as top talents, said Daisies captain Anathi Qolo.

Manana echoed the sentiment, particularly since the Daisies find themselves in the fortunate albeit challenging position of regularly losing a large portion of their players to national duty.

“At the start of the competition I basically lost six players to the Sevens team,” Manana said. “My plan B is always to develop [...] I watch a lot of the women’s games and identify emerging players from club and varsity rugby.”

Having a professionalised structure where coaches Nhleko and Jordaan can fill the gap from the growing depth of players has allowed the Daisies to sustain their dominance over the years.

Emerging Daisies

For Qolo, her rugby career would not be where it is without the Bulls taking that step.

Her development at the Daisies prepared her well for the international stage. After making her Springbok debut against Spain in 2024, Qolo now has 11 Test caps to her name and she captained the side in the 2025 Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in Madagascar before going on to represent South Africa at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

“Firstly, I was working. I had to leave everything,” she said. “I feel like if ever the Bulls Daisies didn’t turn professional, for me, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Another player who began as an emerging Daisy is Patience Mokone, the recently crowned 2025 Provincial Women’s Player of the Year.

From Shoshanguve, the 23-year-old winger started as an uncontracted player and after proving herself through outstanding performances, earned a contract.

In 2025 she achieved national recognition, debuting for both the Springbok Women’s Sevens and 15s teams.

Mokone was also the leading try scorer in the Women’s Premier Division in 2025 with 13 tries.

Mind the gap

To highlight the progress women’s rugby has made over the years, Manana uses the 2025 Rugby World Cup as an example.

The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham was a historic sellout of almost 82,000 spectators, surpassing the attendance for the men’s final, a little more than 80,000 held at the same venue a decade earlier.

“Ten years later, but the game 10 years ago for women was nowhere,” Manana said.

“However, there is still more work to be done” to shrink the gap between provincial- and national-level rugby, Qolo added.

“I hope that other franchises can be professional like [the Daisies] because when we’re going to the national team there’s a big gap,” she said. “Blue Bulls is professional, we are fit and we know a lot of things. With other players, the capacity for them, in the national set-up, it gets hard.”

Reading the names of the Springbok Women’s squad shows that 38% of the side is made up of Daisies players, including Ayanda Malinga, Libbie Janse van Rensburg and Jakkie Cilliers.

The professionalisation of women’s rugby within the Bulls set-up played a major role in the Springbok Women’s historic achievement in reaching the quarterfinal stage at the Rugby World Cup last year.

“It takes the unions. Let’s be honest and let’s say it as is,” Manana said. “There’s not one union in the country that makes up SA Rugby. If you can get those [unions] to put in more effort, like they do in the men’s and their juniors, [then the game can grow].” DM