Preparing for glory: How Springbok Women's team are building depth for 2025 Rugby World Cup
Winger Patience Mokone (23) was one of the stand-out young players for the Springbok Women in the Rugby Africa Cup. Photo: BackpagePix
Image: BackpagePix
Comment by Leighton Koopman
Building and maintaining depth has always been one of the biggest stumbling blocks for the Springbok Women's side.
However, under the tutelage of performance coach Swys de Bruin and his assistants Franzel September, Laurian Johannes-Haupt and Bafana Nhleko, they have ticked one box after the other on their way to the 2025 Rugby World Cup in England.
A few blocks must still fall in place over the next month, especially on the field, but the Bok Women are set to head to the United Kingdom in August with their strongest squad ever to compete at the event.
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The women's game in South Africa will not only benefit ahead of the World Cup, but also in the long run as well.
De Bruin has ensured the blueprint of Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus was followed looking at how they have expanded the overall squad with talented players.
Broadening the selection pool at a national level has been crucial to the Bok Women's success over the past few months, and they did that while winning matches.
The short-term goal is to make them as competitive as possible when they take on France, Italy and Brazil in the pool stages at the World Cup.
Looking at how they are currently faring, there exists a realistic chance that they can progress past the pool stages.
Unbeaten in Africa. United in purpose.
The #BokWomen are Rugby Africa Cup champions for the fourth time 🏆#MakeItCount #ETTIG pic.twitter.com/1zSbYg68Ls — SA Women's Rugby (@WomenBoks) June 15, 2025
The Springbok Women recently returned from the Rugby Africa Women's Cup in Madagascar with an unbeaten record, achieved by a fairly inexperienced squad coached by September and Nhleko.
They took 28 players, some of whom made their debut in Madagascar, and defeated all three of their opponents, so that is something to celebrate.
On top of that, only four players in the match-day squad for the final game against the host nation had 15 or more caps behind their names.
It shows that something is being done right in the Bok Women's camp, and if they can continue on this path, they'll see more success in the future.
Twenty other players stayed behind for a camp with De Bruin and Johannes-Haupt, where they were fine-tuning their plans for two important Tests against Canada next month.
The Canadians are ranked second in the world, so the Springbok Women could not have asked for stronger opponents to measure themselves against ahead of the tournament.
They will know exactly where they stand in terms of competitiveness after the two matches that will act as openers for the men's Tests against Italy, on July 5 in Pretoria and July 12 in Gqeberha.
The South Africans made proper plans for Canada over the last couple of months, so they should be able to string together some strong performances.
Whatever happens this season, De Bruin and his assistants have ensured that women's rugby at the top level will be healthy going forward.
They've embraced the example of Erasmus when it comes to broadening their player base, while winning on the international scene.
That will stand them in good stead, not just at the World Cup, but also for what awaits on the international scene after the tournament.
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