Uncharted territory — Springbok Women aim for their first World Cup quarterfinal spot

Daily Maverick

25-05-2025

Coach Swys de Bruin is thinking outside the box to reach uncharted territory at the Rugby World Cup in England later this year.
On 14 May, there were exactly 100 days to go before the start of the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup. The tournament, which starts on 22 August and will be hosted by England, is one of the most significant in South African women's rugby history.
The teams are as competitive as ever, the structures are the best yet and the coaching staff, led by Swys de Bruin, possess some of the best rugby knowledge in the country.
'Certain things are getting there,' De Bruin said about the improvements he has seen in the Springbok Women since taking the reins in August 2024.
'I have a fantastic coaching staff, which helps a lot. The support structure, from our manager, the medical part – everyone is pulling their weight big time.'
The goal is for a South African women's rugby side to reach the quarterfinal stage of a World Cup for the first time. To do that they need to win two of their pool-stage matches. France, Italy and Brazil are in their group.
'It's easy for me; the [support staff] make my job so easy,' De Bruin said. 'But it's all words – we have to do it now. We didn't win a game at the [previous] World Cup. We have to start pulling wins off.'
South Africa should overcome Brazil (who are ranked 33rd in the world), but they are not taking the South American side lightly.
'We can't underestimate Brazil,' the coach said. 'They have their sevens players back now and they're strong. The World Cup teams are all strong.'
South Africa will be targeting the match against Italy at the quadrennial event. Italy are ranked eighth in the world, four places ahead of South Africa. The Springbok Women have recent experience playing against them, losing 19-23 in a tightly fought match at Athlone Stadium in the WXV2 competition in October 2024.
It was a match in which the spirit of the Bok Women was on display as they trailed 7-17 at half-time. They fought back hard in the second half, but a final ball failing to go to hand denied them victory.
'It was really one pass away from a famous victory… it was very close,' De Bruin said.
'Italy has improved as well. They did so well in the Six Nations. They [nearly] upset France and France is a big dog. We know we're going to have to turn every stone and bring our A-game if we want a positive result.'
Italy ended the Six Nations in fourth place, securing victories over Scotland and Wales and suffering three losses, to Ireland, England and France.
Star player
The Springbok Women's Sevens squad fell at the final hurdle at the World Championships in Los Angeles at the start of May, which ended their quest for a spot in the second division of the SVNS circuit. The team members who played in the knockout matches were inexperienced and lost 14-17 to Kenya in the final.
Nadine Roos, whose unrelenting attitude dragged the team to the final in the first place, was at the heart of all the excellent work achieved, including scoring one try, setting up another and converting both.
De Bruin now has the services of the talented playmaker available as the team build towards the Rugby World Cup, along with a few other young players, including skilful youngster Leigh Fortuin. 'It's always good,' De Bruin said about the sevens players returning to 15s. 'Their skill level is high. Their conditioning is good. I always love when the sevens players come back.'
De Bruin's approach to get the most out of Roos, who so often is the gamebreaker in 15s rugby as well, is to get her as close to the action as possible. 'She plays in the spine,' De Bruin explained.
'The spine for me is [numbers] nine, 10 or 15. She enjoys all three [positions]. When I played her at nine, she looked very dangerous. With our counterattack system that we're training and working a lot on now, she works very well at 15.'
Roos started her international career on the wing before donning the fullback jersey. Last season, when regular No 10 Libbie Janse van Rensburg moved to the back, was the first time Roos played as flyhalf for the national team.
The pair have played together in the sevens and 15s circuit since their days of playing together at the University of Pretoria.
'In any case, the style I attack and the way we want to play, the 10 and the 15, they swap roles like [Handré] Pollard and Willie le Roux,' De Bruin said. 'We do a similar sort of thing. Both players are back when they kick to us and the counterattack starts with both of them.'
De Bruin explained that Roos will be back at fullback as her primary position this season, but she will cover flyhalf and scrumhalf as alternative options.
'She can play anywhere – [we don't want] to stuff her around too much,' he said. '[No] 15 will be the priority, and then 10 she's very good and in a crisis we can play her at nine, you never know.
'Rassie [Erasmus] took four scrumhalves to the World Cup, so we might take three.'
Final preparation
As the preparation for the Rugby World Cup continues, the side's resources will be split. South Africa will play in the Rugby Africa Women's Cup next month against Uganda, Kenya and Madagascar.
In the three years since 2019 that the tournament has taken place, the Bok Women have won it. This time, the brains trust has decided to send a slightly less-experienced side, led by lock forward Anathi Qolo. De Bruin won't be at the tournament, which will be hosted in Madagascar, and either assistant coach Bafana Nhleko or Franzel September will take over the reins temporarily.
Apart from the Rugby Africa Women's Cup, the Springbok Women will play four friendlies before the World Cup, which will be the true test of how far they have come. They will take on No 2-ranked side Canada in two matches and a Black Ferns XV in New Zealand in the other two.
It's the first time De Bruin has coached a women's side, and after eight months at the helm he is starting to figure out how to get his team going for the big matches – which every match is until the conclusion of the World Cup.
'It's fantastic. I'm very blessed to do it,' De Bruin said about his time in the hot seat. 'It's totally different. When they're happy they play [well]. If you give them tons and tons of confidence, they excel. If you do it with men, they get overconfident and you get a hammering.'
De Bruin will look to instil this confidence in his side in their quest to reach uncharted territory in England in August. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.