Sloppy defensive blips give inexperienced Springbok Women vital African lesson

The Springbok Women may have comfortably extended their stellar unbeaten run against African opposition on Wednesday, but assistant coach Franzel September believes an untidy 47-20 victory over Uganda delivered a timely reminder of the standards required at the sharp end of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup.

South Africa were pushed significantly harder than expected at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi, conceding two shock early tries before eventually pulling away to maintain their strong position heading into Sunday’s tournament decider against hosts Kenya. Alarmingly, the team also conceded first during the weekend's opening 64-5 victory over Madagascar.

While pleased with the sheer character shown by his side to regain control of the contest, September freely admitted the patchy performance exposed clear defensive areas that stronger international opponents could punish far more severely.

“We conceded two tries in the first 10 minutes through a combination of them doing well to keep the ball alive, and us not making proper hits and dropping off first-time tackles,” September said afterwards. “Uganda can move the ball nicely and we did not respond to that, and we paid the price. That was a good lesson for a relatively new group of players.”

The Springbok Women eventually settled into their rhythm to run in seven tries, but their discipline remained wildly inconsistent throughout the encounter as a steady stream of penalties and a costly yellow card repeatedly disrupted their attacking momentum. September felt his side took far too long to adjust to the referee’s interpretations, although he praised the players for successfully correcting matters as the game progressed.

“We did not adapt well to the referee, who is the person in charge, but as we took control of the match and eliminated our errors, we could get more flow in our game,” he explained. “Once that happened, we scored some nice tries.”

Despite the fragmented display, the coaching staff still found immense positives in the continued integration of next-generation talent. Three debutants featured against Uganda, while six more squad members earned only their second Test caps. September insisted that exposing younger players to difficult, high-pressure moments now would benefit the Springbok Women in the long term.

“We had three new caps today and they played well,” he said. “I was also very pleased with the six players who were playing in their second Test match. It is part of the process to bring in the next group of players, and we will benefit from that decision.”

Absolute attention now firmly turns to Kenya, who ruthlessly crushed Madagascar 57-0 to set up what is effectively a blockbuster tournament title decider on Sunday. And while South Africa escaped with another convincing scoreline on paper, September believes the adversity his team faced could prove invaluable before their toughest assignment of the campaign.

“We needed some adversity to remind ourselves of the fight we have in us, and that came through today,” he concluded. “We recovered well and, in the end, controlled the match. That momentum takes us into our final game on Sunday, and we will be ready to go.”

Sunday's match against Kenya will kick off at 3pm SA time.