Springbok Women coach Swys de Bruin is positive that his team will find their groove on attack before next year’s World Cup after a few wasted chances proved costly in yesterday’s 23-19 WXV 2 defeat to Italy at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.
The Italians led 17-7 at halftime and looked to have had the measure of the South Africans, who made a series of handling errors and poor decisions on attack, and experienced a few defensive lapses out wide.
The Bok Women still dominated the scrums and mauls, but weren’t able to take advantage of the front-foot ball, and also got the short end of the stick in some decisions by referee Precious Pazani.
Halfbacks Tayla Kinsey and Nadine Roos opted to put in kicks too often when inside the Italian half, and those wasted opportunities brought great relief to the visitors when they were under pressure in defence.
The South Africans needed to show greater patience with ball-in-hand, but it was not to be in the first half following prop Babalwa Latsha’s 11th-minute try off a five-metre scrum.
Instead, it was the wily Italians who displayed the necessary skills to unlock the South African defence.
A yellow card to powerful Bok centre Chumisa Qawe for a high tackle saw the Italians work their way into the SA 22, and loosehead prop Silvia Turani barged over from close range.
Despite enjoying a number of attacking opportunities, the wrong options taken by the South Africans even had De Bruin shouting in frustration on the sidelines – but he took some of the blame for the ill-timed kicks in particular.
THE POWER 💪
— WXV (@WXVRugby) October 12, 2024
Just look at this maul from the Springbok Women 🔥#WXV | #WXV2 | #RSAvITA pic.twitter.com/W1GeUAnjMY
“That’s game appreciation as well, because we did say to them – and I take it on me – they don’t have a sweeper often, so put the chip in behind them because then we can turn them properly. But I was meaning midfield more, not so close to the tryline!” the former Lions mentor said afterwards.
“Two, three times I saw it and I said, ‘Nie daar nie!’, not there! But that’ll come. We’ve got to keep on growing, and the results will come.
“Against Australia (in a 33-26 loss last week), I went through it with the girls, eight scoring chances we gave away.
“Five in the first 20 minutes again (today), and then the yellow cards came. We did put emphasis on the discipline, but I never blame a player on that as it’s a contact sport.
“But the two yellow cards got their (Italy) tails up, and it was like every time that happened, we battled and just had to survive – and we did survive.”
Six minutes into the second half, De Bruin had seen enough and made wholesale changes by introducing the Bomb Squad, and it made an immediate difference.
Bringing on the Bomb Squad 😤💣
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 12, 2024
📺 Stream #WXV2 on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw#HereForHer pic.twitter.com/FfSMPJt99e
Suddenly the home side imposed themselves on their opponents, seemed more assured with ball-in-hand and were decisive on attack.
Powerful loose forwards Aseza Hele and Sinazo Mcatshulwa were the key figures who punched holes in the Italian defence, and loosehead prop Sanelisiwe Charlie wasn’t far behind either.
Inside centre Qawe also made up for her first-half yellow card with a number of barnstorming runs up the middle as she burst through tackles, and it led to Hele barging over on the right to begin the comeback.
Then the try of the match came from wing Ayanda Malinga, who raced down the left after a stunning offload by fullback Eloise Webb created the space out wide.
How's this for a team try? 😮💨
— WXV (@WXVRugby) October 12, 2024
The linkups from South Africa are 🔥#WXV | #WXV2 | #RSAvITA pic.twitter.com/PEanweoQE9
Suddenly it was 19-17 to the Boks after 53 minutes, and they had regained the momentum to take charge of the encounter.
They had further opportunities to close out the result, but just came short a few times, with one driving maul seeing the ball ripped away by the Italians.
“If we can fix a few mistakes, we can really go places,” De Bruin said.
“We scored some beautiful, beautiful tries. That’s (try by Malinga) one of the best tries ever in women’s rugby.
“We’ve never beaten this side (Italy), and we came close – it was really a coin-toss at the end there.”
FT | 🇮🇹 Italy 23-19 South Africa 🇿🇦
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 12, 2024
The Italian defence stands firm as it goes right to the death in Cape Town 💥#HereForHer | #WXV2 pic.twitter.com/K7Ptsw2w0v
Points-Scorers
South Africa 19 – Tries: Babalwa Latsha, Aseza Hele, Ayanda Malinga. Conversions: Nadine Roos (2).
Italy 23 – Tries: Silvia Turani (2), Michela Sillari. Conversion: Sillari (1). Penalties: Beatrice Rigoni (2).