The last time the Springbok Women faced Australia was at the 2014 World Cup, and it ended in a 26-3 defeat for the South Africans in Marcoussis, France.
A decade later, they square off for the fourth time at Athlone Stadium today (5pm start) in a WXV 2 encounter, and the Boks are hoping for a very different outcome this time around.
Coach Swys de Bruin’s team are certainly much better equipped to pull off an upset over the Wallaroos than in 2014. Much progress has been made in the SA women’s game in recent years, and the national side did well to see off a higher-ranked Japan 31-24 at the Cape Town Stadium last week.
But it’s set to be a much sterner test against the Aussies, who are ranked seventh compared to South Africa’s 11th, with the visitors having a much longer history in the women’s game – having competed regularly at the World Cup and reached the playoffs.
They were knocked out in the quarter-finals in New Zealand in 2021, and will also be determined to go further in the tournament in England next year.
But so are South Africa, and stalwart tighthead prop Babalwa Latsha feels that she and her teammates can make a big statement at the Athlone Stadium this evening against the Australians, who also claimed big victories in 2006 (68-12) and 2010 (62-0) against the Boks.
“There’s no doubt that Australia are quite a solid side. Like coach said, they are a complete team. We last played Australia in 2014, probably even before my time,” said Latsha.
“So, it’s a massive opportunity for us to be able to put on some type of a record against this side, building up to the World Cup. We look forward to really testing ourselves against Australia. Whether we’d like to admit it or not, a lot is riding on how we do in this particular Test match.
“How we fare against them will affect our world ranking, and it’s a typical sort of underdog story – and I think people love that type of thing.
“But it’s not so much about them... It’s about us and what we need to do and what we are trying to achieve, even looking beyond WXV. So, it’s exciting.”
Latsha is a former captain and one of the more experienced Boks with 31 Tests – which is level with today’s skipper, openside flank Lusanda Dumke.
She hopes that she and her front-row colleagues, Sanelisiwe Charlie (loosehead prop) and Roseline Botes (hooker) can continue to dominate in the scrums, as they did against Japan, and produce better maul defence after conceding two tries from that facet last week.
“It’s no secret that the scrums are one of our biggest weapons, which we intend to utilise this weekend as well – in fact, going into the future. It’s typical of any South African team: we love a scrum! So, that’s one of our strong points,” Latsha said.
“However, we’d like to be sharper at our lineouts, which can also be a great weapon for us – especially an attacking weapon on the day.
“In the week, we’ve trained maul D and attack. How well we fix that, we’ll be able to see it in the match against proper fire.
“We look forward to that type of challenge because that’s how we roll. We love mauls, we love set pieces and we love scrummaging.”
Australia beat Wales 37-5 last weekend, and SA captain Dumke, who is returning from an ankle injury layoff, added: “We are well aware of their strengths, especially their ability to play total rugby, but we prepared accordingly and have our own plans in place to not only combat that, but also to force our style of play on them.
When they summon the Green Wall 🔰
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“The coaches have a plan, we trained that well and now we need to execute that (today).
“Our last visit to Athlone Stadium was a happy one, when we played a very good game against Samoa in last year’s WXV tournament. We go back to Athlone with happy memories, and are hoping to create more of those.”
Springbok Women Team
15 Eloise Webb 14 Jakkie Cilliers 13 Zintle Mpupha 12 Chumisa Qawe 11 Ayanda Malinga 10 Nadine Roos 9 Unam Tose 8 Aseza Hele 7 Sinazo Mcatshulwa 6 Lusando Dumke (captain) 5 Vainah Ubisi 4 Danelle Lochner 3 Babalwa Latsha 2 Roseline Botes 1 Sanelisiwe Charlie.
Bench: 16 Micke Gunter 17 Yonela Ngxingolo 18 Azisa Mkiva 19 Nolusindiso Booi 20 Catha Jacobs 21 Sizophila Solontsi 22 Felicia Jacobs 23 Byrhandré Dolf.