Springbok Women to face Scotland in home Tests
The Springbok Women and their supporters will be in action in their first Tests on local soil in six years in September and October when they will host Scotland in two encounters in Cape Town.
The announcement follows the news that a women’s tournament has been added to the HSBC Cape Town Sevens later this year.
The last time the Springbok Women played an official Test at home was in 2013, when they defeated Uganda in East London to book their place in the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup in France.
The Tests will be hosted at the City Park Sports Grounds in Athlone on Monday, 30 September, and Saturday, 5 October 2019.
“This is fantastic news for our team and supporters, not only because we are facing one of the Women’s Six Nations teams, but also because we will be able to do so in front of our home crowd,” said Springbok Women’s coach Stanley Raubenheimer.
“Most of our games over the years have been abroad, so it will be special to experience the support from family, friends and SA’s die-hard rugby fans first hand when we take to the field.”
Raubenheimer spoke highly of Scotland, who completed their Women’s Six Nations campaign last month, saying: “Scotland are a quality side who are regulars in the international arena. This will also mark their first visit to South Africa, which will inspire them to make a big statement.
“They may not have performed as well as they wanted to in the Six Nations, but their narrow 17-15 defeat against Wales shows that they are a capable team with talented players.
“We had a national women’s assessment camp in March, so we now have a solid base to work from,” said Raubenheimer. “There is obviously hard work ahead, but we are going to put the building blocks in place in the next few months to prepare ourselves for these matches.”
Raubenheimer and his assistant coaches Lungisa Kama and Eddie Myners will embark on union visits in May where they will further assess the players, while they are planning training camps in August and September.
Gemma Fay, Head of Women and Girls rugby at the Scottish Rugby Union, said: “We are really excited to take the Scotland Women squad over to South Africa. The Autumn Test series last year was the perfect platform to challenge the team ahead of the Six Nations.
“The Springbok Women are a strong team and we are excited about playing these fixtures in Athlone for what will be two significant home matches for the Springbok Women.”
