Springbok Women assistant coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt expressed satisfaction and praise to the squad after they outplayed the Barbarians Women in Cape Town on Saturday.
South Africa showed great grit up front and gave enough space to their hard-running backs to finish off some spectacular tries, scored in front of an always increasing crowd, as they won 59-17.
“It was fantastic to see how we manage to put different phases of our play together and the result was fantastic,” said Johannes-Haupt.
“There were some great set-piece play and tries, while the forwards also laid a solid foundation to our backline.
“We are really grateful to the Barbarians who gave us this opportunity as we fine-tune towards WXV 2 and ultimately the Rugby World Cup next year. This showing was a tremendous boost for us, as it instilled the belief that the changes they were asked to do, were the correct ones.”
Johannes-Haupt said the input from Swys de Bruin and Bafana Nhleko, who recently joined the coaching staff, was clear to see in the performance.
“They are well experienced in rugby and immediately stamped their mark on the team,” she said. “It is early days yet, but today’s performance show what the potential of the team is. Now we need to kick-on come WXV 2.”
Bok Women captain Nolusindiso Booi praised the crowd and said it was worth the wait to finally play at DHL Stadium: “What a moment it was for us and I am so happy the team could respond with a proper performance to showcase our talent. It was a performance everyone can be proud of.”
Booi said the way the forwards played was needed to lay the foundation and that they had now set a standard to work from.
“We needed to be very physical today and we managed that, so that hard work was worth it, and the backs scored some amazing tries,” she said.
“This is what we can do and we can only improve in our next outing against Spain. We hope to have a decent crowd on that day too, as they crowd was just special today.”
The team will take a short break and will assemble on 15 September again to prepare for the Test against Spain, to be played at DHL Stadium on 19 September.
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Sport Trivia: Graeme Pollock is considered to be one of the greatest batsmen of all-time. What was his test batting average when he retired?Answer: 60.97. He made his Test debut at the age of 19, and in just 41 tests he scored 2484 runs at an average of 60.97, with five centuries and 15 fifties. He also captured 47 wickets at an average 39.55 runs per wicket. Sadly, his test career was cut short when, at the age of twenty six, an international sporting ban was imposed on South Africa as a result of Apartheid. He was arguably the greatest left-handed batsman the world has yet seen.
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1900 was the one and only time that cricket was played at the Paris Olympics. The game was participated in by only two teams – one from England and one from France. According to fans, the length of a match and the limited number of countries that participate in the sport may be to blame. There is some talk that cricket may return to the Games in 2028.