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Springbok Women keen to end on a high

The Springbok Women are determined to finish their European tour on a high and deliver a commanding performance when they face the USA on Saturday.

The Test – at Ealing Sports Club in London – will be the sixth between the two countries and according to Springbok Women assistant coach Franzel September, it will conclude a productive three weeks on tour for the team.

“We are done with Spain and the win last weekend and since Monday we have been focusing on the USA only,” said September.

“We picked up a lot of learnings on the tour so far, with the training sessions against Scotland and Wales and the Test win in Valladolid, and now we need to complete the job against the USA.

“Ultimately, our aim for the tour was to prepare our players for the Africa Cup in May, where qualification for next year’s Rugby World Cup is at stake. I can say it was a good journey this far and we are excited to be tested by USA, a team we don’t face often.”

The Bok Women last played the USA in 2013, but Franzel said they watched all the Women’s Eagles’ matches last year at WXV 2, which was hosted in South Africa.

“They do have a new coach now, a former forward, so we expect their approach to be physical one. We also prefer a physical battle and prepared accordingly,” said September, adding that the players learnt on tour that they need to “pitch up” for every opponent.

“The same will apply to the USA game, we need to take the game to them. We know our strengths and to make sure they count in our favour, we must apply pressure on them.”

The Test will also be a final opportunity to get battle ready for the Africa Cup in Madagascar: “We have introduced some new players to Test rugby and the level of intensity needed at that level, and we are happy with the results. This match will give us another opportunity to get our game in order.

“USA has a better world ranking than us and one of the main objectives was to play and compete against those sides. Saturday will provide such an opportunity and we cannot waste that,” he added.

The team for the USA match will be announced on Wednesday afternoon. The match will be livestreamed on the SA Rugby YouTube channel and starts at 15h00 (SA time).

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