Springbok Women end campaign aware of shortcomings
The Springbok Women were outplayed and outwitted by a better England team, who showed why they are undefeated for close to four years now and who exposed the lack of experience of the South African side in pressure situations.
That is the assessment of Springbok Women coach Stanley Raubenheimer after his side were beaten by 75-0 in their final Pool C Rugby World Cup encounter in Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday.
Despite the score line, the coach applauded the effort from his match day squad.
“I cannot fault the players for the effort, but England outplayed us in all facets today and again showed why they are the favourites to win the tournament. We played well at stages, but once they got going, we had no answers or replies,” said Raubenheimer, adding that his team were kept under pressure and could not escape England’s strangle hold on territory and possession.
“We did well in the opening 20 minutes, but then gave them the ball near their own line with a simple handling error. From there they slowly took control, especially with their pack. In the end they scored six or seven tries from their rolling maul and we could just not stop that.”
Their overall game management was also a problem for his team: “They had their kicking game going and by keeping scoreboard pressure on us, we really had nowhere to go. It was a very good performance by them and they deserved the victory.”
Raubenheimer said the campaign was disappointing considering the results, but he was adamant that the players will be better because of this experience.
“We were never going to compete against the top sides given their professionalism and experience, but did give them a good run,” he said.
“The defeat against Fiji was really disappointing for us as we targeted that match for a win and a potential place in the quarter-finals.
“This tournament showed where we need to be better and where we have shown growth and that is valuable for the road ahead. Most of these players should be around for the next World Cup and will be much better from this experience.”
Springbok Women’s captain Nolusindiso Booi applauded England for their win.
“We had some say in the game in the opening half, but once they realised that we had a weakness in defending their maul, they were ruthless,” said Booi.
“We kept giving away penalties and they kept kicking for the corners and then force the maul. We had no reply to that. Conceding two yellow cards because of that pressure just added to their dominance as our scrum then also buckled.”
Booi said they to create opportunities to score points, but they could never get enough momentum to get over the line: “We really tried, but they played very well today. They outplayed us and outthought us.”
The team will return to South Africa on Tuesday.
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