'The big guns are coming after us': Swys warns Bok Women
EXCLUSIVE: It has been a year since the Springbok Women’s historic World Cup campaign in England, and a lot has changed since then.
For a start, the Bok Women have a new captain in the form of Babalwa Latsha following the retirement of Cindy Booi.
They have also played the USA in a two-Test series on South African soil for the first time, managing to draw the series.
The side played incredibly well in the first Test at Ellis Park, racing to a 34-0 lead in the second half before securing a 34-21 victory.
In the second Test, the USA proved a little too strong as the visitors recorded a 26-19 win over the Bok Women at Loftus Versfeld.
Despite the defeat, it was certainly a moment of great significance given that the USA arrived in Johannesburg ranked eighth in the world and boasting victories over top-tier opposition, including Australia, in the Pacific Four Series.
*Also read: Janse van Rensburg reflects on historic Bok Women milestone
The Springbok Women then travelled to Fiji for the first time. Head coach Swys de Bruin stayed at home while Laurian Johannes-Haupt and Franzel September took over proceedings – a system that the Bok Women have also executed during the Rugby Africa campaign.
And it proved fruitful.
Not only did the team record back-to-back victories in Fiji (55-12 and 29-22) and secure the inaugural Ubuntu Bula Trophy, but it also gave the rising coaches an opportunity against somewhat prominent opposition.
The Springbok Women are back at training camp this week, and now it is all about facing the top 10 opponents.
First will be the Black Ferns on September 5 at FNB Stadium, followed by away fixtures against Wales and Italy as part of WXV, before Ireland come to Cape Town for a two-Test series in October.
*Also read: Black Ferns send stern warning ahead of trip to South Africa
“So far this season, we lost one against the USA. So definitely on the up, but saying that, the big guns come after us, one after the other,” De Bruin told Rugby365.
“Black Ferns, Wales and then Italy, who want to get us back for what we did in the World Cup.
“Followed by Spain, and then a double-header against Ireland, another top five team.
“We asked for strength against strength, and we got it.”
De Bruin said the focus has been on building squad depth and adding more caps during this World Cup cycle.
At the moment, Yonela Ngxingolo holds the record for the most-capped prop with 46 Tests, while Lindelwa Gwala is the most-capped hooker with 40 caps.
Captain Latsha is on 43 caps, so it is certainly an incredibly experienced group.
“The more caps you have, the more experience you have.
“If you look at the men’s rugby side now, what they’ve achieved, brilliant from Rassie Erasmus – you can almost pick three teams and that’s Test level.
“So, if we can get there, or just halfway there, that will be a big, big win for us in that regard.”
De Bruin also stressed that conditioning was another aspect they needed to work on after the 2025 World Cup.
“We had a lot of things that we learned from the World Cup about our team – strengths and weaknesses.
“We identified a couple of things that we definitely made a priority in our work.
“First is the conditioning aspect. If you want to be a top five team or one of the two that can bark with the big dogs, that’s one department that we definitely had to improve.
“If you look at the game against the Black Ferns, it was 10-all at half-time, and it’s just really the fitness element that sort of faded on us in that second half.”
The coach also confirmed that Nadine Roos will miss the showdown against the Black Ferns and is expected to return against Ireland in October.
