Victory over Kiwis ticked the final boxes for Swys
SPOTLIGHT: The win against the Black Ferns XV not only injected belief into the Springbok Women’s side, but it also gave performance coach Swys de Bruin the answers he was seeking in terms of combinations.
Ahead of that final preparation game, De Bruin had made numerous changes, especially in the backline, where he tried out a plethora of options.
Their victory in that last outing at Athlone Stadium over the visiting New Zealanders ticked all the right boxes for the experienced coach and answered the last few questions he had to finalise the squad for the World Cup.
De Bruin’s squad was named at Soccer City in Johannesburg on Saturday for the four-yearly tournament, where South Africa will face Brazil, Italy, and France in Pool D.
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“That [match against the Black Ferns XV] was Godsent, and I’ll tell you why I say that,” De Bruin said at the squad announcement in Johannesburg on Saturday, adding: “I said we needed two or three more games to get the combinations sorted and after that game I realised those were the combinations we want to look at.
“I tried Libbie [Janse van Rensburg] at 12, Eloise [Webb] at 10; she trained so well there. But I realised she’s a 13, maybe a 15.
“I now know Libbie is a 10 but can cover as a 12. And then Nadine [Roos] nine, 10 and 15 – it doesn’t matter where you play her.
“Some people said she needs space to play 15, she talks a lot, and she calls it, especially in defence, she does well there.
“But I realised if you play her at nine, she gets the forwards going. So the combinations worked out perfectly for us in that game.
“If it wasn’t for that last game, we would’ve been in doubt about the combinations,” De Bruin explained.
He said the selection process was very difficult, because it is so marginalised.
“I sat with the coaching staff virtually every day, working through clips, and we looked for certain things.
“At the end of the day, we came through with the 32 that we thought were the right ones.
“I’m sorry for the 33-40 and the rest. They must understand it is a contact game. There might be injuries or problems where we need to pull in those resources,” he concluded.
