Johannesburg - SA Rugby will not renew the services of Springbok Women's head coach, Stanley Raubenheimer, according to reports, and he will finish up at the end of this month.
Raubenheimer coached the team for four years, during which time SA Rugby escalated its focus on the Women’s game, including appointing a High-Performance Manager in Lynn Cantwell, and according to News24, she does not wish to continue with Raubenheimer.
The Bok women had a disappointing World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. A massive effort was put into readying the team and while they were not expected to beat the heavyweights in their pool in England and France, they conceded heavy scores and then their biggest setback was losing to World Cup newcomers Fiji.
It was the one game the South Africans could have won, but they failed against a team ranked below them in the world.
Cantwell, a former captain of the Ireland Women’s team, was appointed to the position at SA Rugby in February 2021 with a view to improving the structures of the women's game.
Earlier this year, Women’s Sevens coach Paul Delport parted ways with SA Rugby and was not too kind in his comments. His parting shots included the accusation that there was little interest in fostering the women’s sevens game.
Delport added: “For the leading rugby nation in the world to be unwilling to invest in women's rugby is unacceptable.”
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Under Raubenheimer, the women’s team did improve and they enjoyed their first-ever overseas win when they beat Japan this year.
The Boks also beat Spain, who were above the Boks in the world rankings, and they are currently 13th in the world standings, their highest-ever position.
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