Bok Women bank on experience in naming squad for Women's Rugby World Cup
Nolusindiso Booi, the most-capped Springbok Women's player, will lead a strong, experienced South African squad boasting a combined 689 Test caps to the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup in England in a few weeks' time.
Bok Women's head coach Swys de Bruin's squad for the World Cup – where South Africa will face Brazil, Italy and France in Pool D – was named at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Booi, who captained the squad at the previous tournament in New Zealand in 2022, is also South Africa's most experienced Test captain, having led the side in 23 Tests. She said she was excited to have made the cut.
'We know the work needs to start again because we've been working so hard until now. We've been prepared enough and we did have a couple of games where we did have a crowd, because that is one of the things that are making people nervous when they reach that stage,' she said.
Babalwa Latsha, who captained the Bok Women in 14 Test matches as well as in the recent Black Ferns XV series, was named as vice-captain.
Booi and Tayla Kinsey are the most experienced players in the squad, with 19 of the 32 players boasting previous World Cup experience.
Eight of the 19 forwards will be experiencing a Women's Rugby World Cup for the first time. Four of the 13 backs will represent South Africa on this level for the first time.
All 32 players selected for the Women's Rugby World Cup featured either against Spain in April, the Rugby Africa Women's Cup, the two Tests against Canada in July, or the two recent internationals against the Black Ferns XV, which was a telling factor in their final selection, according to De Bruin.
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