The Springbok Women’s defeat to Ireland in Cape Town on Saturday was largely due to soft moments according to co-head coach Franzel September, who also believes that they can regroup and turn the tables when the two sides meet at the same venue again next Saturday.
Ireland won the WXV Global Series clash by 40-27, outscoring the gallant South Africans by six tries to five in front of a loud and appreciative crowd at Athlone Stadium.
“We did a lot of good things today but ultimately made some unforced errors which allowed Ireland to capitalise, regroup and turn the momentum around,” said September afterwards.
“We had a number of opportunities in their red zone and then spilled it. That is not us. We had two mauls stopped five meters from their line. That is not us. We can fix that though, so that is why I believe we can turn this around next weekend.”
September gave credit to Ireland for the way they managed to score their points: “Their one try came from four, five phases and our defence is normally better than that, so that will be a work-on for next week.”
Co-head coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt agreed that their opponents were just a bit more clinical and street smart on the day.
“They outplayed us at times, but we can fix what happened,” said Johannes-Haupt.
“We will come back next week more determined to make sure we are clinical. We scored five good tries and could have had more if we were more clinical when on attack. Our defence was also not accurate enough at times.”
There will be some honest conversations at the post-match review, she said, but also positives as they know what can be fixed: “We will get back to work on Monday and work hard to redeem ourselves for next weekend.”
Bok Women vice-captain Unam Tose said they felt that they let down the boisterous crowd that came to support the team, as well as those that are looking for inspiration from the team.
“We know who we play for and what we play for,” said Tose.
“Today we disappointed a lot of people by not getting a result that we are capable of. We do want to inspire others, especially young girls to take up the game, but then we must make them proud. That is why today’s result was so disappointing.”
The second Test on Saturday 31 October will kick-off at 15h00 and tickets are available at Ticketmaster.
