How Bok Women silence doubters amid coaching concerns

EXCLUSIVE: It’s been a challenging few weeks for the Springbok Women; however, they rallied and showed they truly belong on the world stage.

Following the shocking 19-50 defeat to Wales in their opening round of the WXV Global Series, the age-old questions surrounding the Bok Women’s ability to succeed on the world stage once again resurfaced.

And with good reason.

The South African side looked lost against Wales, with no plan – certainly far from their best.

However, just a week later, they bounced back in style, beating Italy 41-29 for the first time on Italian soil.

It was only the second time the Boks recorded a win over the Azzurri – who are ranked eighth – with the previous occasion being that famous 29-24 victory at the 2025 World Cup.

Speaking exclusively to Rugby365, Springbok Women co-head coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt explained how the team responded to their disappointing performance against Wales.

“There was such a lot of off-field things that we could have done a bit better,” Johannes-Haupt said.

“For the Wales prep, I think timing-wise could have just been a bit better.

“When we went into Italy, we could properly focus, preview, review and do everything we needed to do to prepare for Italy. And that was nice.

“That was nice that we were together and we could do it as a team.”

She stated that the team went back to basics, which is their incredible set-piece.

“That is where we really dominate and that’s where we want to continue dominating.

“Our mauls were exceptionally well. Coach Frenzel September, that’s his department, and he really put in massive work there.

“So it was really special to see.”

In the last month, the team have undergone some massive changes, with Swys de Bruin’s resignation as head coach, while Bafana Nhleko has also vacated his role.

However, SA Rugby enlisted the help of Junior Springbok assistant coach Melusi Mthethwa.

While Dave Wessels, SA Rugby’s General Manager for High Performance, and Barry McDonald have also been actively helping the team.

Despite the changes, the former Springbok Women prop insists the team’s objectives remain unchanged.

“So, the tour, Franzel September and I, we are the co-head coaches of this team currently.

“All we needed to do was just pull the team together and keep them aligned to what we ultimately want to do, what our goals for this year were.

“We’re not finished yet. We still have Ireland to look forward to post-Spain.

“And that is something that we really want to give our all to.

“So it’s very exciting that we can actually, as co-head coaches, get all the resources that are available to us at SA Rugby and use them to the best of our abilities. And then ultimately our programme wins.

“For us, that’s the big thing.

“The big thing is not that we only have two or three coaches.

“However, we have resources at SA Rugby, and they are willing to help us.”

With Spain next on the horizon, Johannes-Haupt has made it clear that the Bok Women are targeting consistency as they look to close out their campaign strongly.

When asked what WXV success would look like, she said: “We want to complete the game against Spain successfully.

“Thereafter, we have a proper go at Ireland because they are ranked way higher than us.

“I’ve said this before; we continuously want to compete against the best. We want to play the Black Ferns, England, France, the Irish, the Canadians.

“Those are the teams we want to play so that we can become better.

“Just based on that Black Ferns game [during The Greatest Rivalry at FNB Stadium], we can already see that we’re not that far behind like we thought we were.

“Now, just moving, going forward, we would like to be more consistent in our approach. We don’t want to be the team that just loses just by the way.

“We want to take those lessons, and those are the lessons we learn from. And I think that lesson of losing against Wales, because we really felt that loss, helped prepare us for what’s next.”

In terms of an injury update, Byrhandre Dolf has passed her HIA (Head Injury Assessment) and is available for selection when the Boks take on Spain this Sunday.