women
international women
Springbok Women co-head coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt gave a candid assessment of her team’s 40-27 loss to Ireland at the Athlone Stadium.
As both teams continued their WXV Global Series In the 2026 campaigns, it was Ireland who helped themselves to a six-try win in Cape Town, with Linda Djougang going over the bar twice.
It was a frustrating performance by the hosts, who made a number of unforced errors and on several occasions failed to take advantage of their good position on the field.
“We were outplayed at times, but we can fix what happened,” Johannes-Haupt said.
“We will come back next week more determined to make sure we are clinical. We scored five good tries and could have had more if we had been clinical in attack. Our defense was also not precise enough at times.”
There will be honest discussions at the post-match review, she said, but also positive ones because they know what can be improved: “We’ll go back to work on Monday and work hard to make amends for next weekend.”
These two teams won’t have to wait that long to meet again. Next Saturday, at the same venue, the teams will conclude a two-game series.
For the Springbok Women, their top priority will be to finish the year on a high. Until September, everything was going well for the tenth-ranked world team.
Before the sudden departure of Swys de Bruin, the group retained control of the African Women’s Rugby Cup, drew a Test series with USA Women’s Eagles and have completed their tour of Fiji.
Since then the team suffered a heavy defeat against the Black Ferns and were defeated Wales in their WXV Global Series opener.
Now we return to home soil to conclude 2026, the desire to end the year with a win is strong.
“We know who we are playing for and what we are playing for,” Tose said. “We disappointed a lot of people today because we didn’t get the result we’re capable of.
“We want to inspire others, especially young girls, to take up the game, but then we have to make them proud. That’s why today’s result was so disappointing.”
