The Springbok Women overpowered Madgascar but were often let down by a lack of composure in key moments on Saturday.
Image: Rugby Africa
The Springbok Women may have opened their Rugby Africa Women’s Cup campaign with a commanding 64-5 victory over Madagascar in Nairobi on Saturday, but assistant coach Franzel September insists there is still room for improvement ahead of their next outing against Uganda.
South Africa eventually overwhelmed Madagascar with their physicality and attacking power, scoring 10 tries to one, but September admitted the performance at the RFUEA Ground was far from flawless despite the emphatic scoreline.
“We did a lot of good things, and there are things that we also were not good at, but that was expected as it was our first match of the season,” September said afterwards.
“What went well for us today was the way we stayed in the fight and the way the ladies showed some character throughout the match. We needed to play for 80 minutes and the ladies gave it their all for 80 minutes.”
The Bok Women were briefly tested early on and even trailed at one stage, but September was pleased with the composure the players showed in difficult moments.
“Even when we were five points behind, we just said to ourselves, 'let’s stick to what works for us'. That was a really good positive for us.”
However, the assistant coach highlighted discipline as a major concern after South Africa conceded 12 penalties in the first half alone.
“I think our discipline count at half-time was about 12 penalties – that’s not who we are,” he said. “We conceded unnecessary penalties for high tackles and being offsides, things we were not proud of. We’ll have a good look at ourselves and fix it.”
September also felt the Bok Women were guilty of forcing opportunities instead of remaining patient, despite creating numerous attacking chances throughout the contest.
“Sometimes we forced one or two things because we wanted to score or convert,” he explained. “We created beautiful opportunities but did not capitalise or score from them. As a coaching team, we felt that’s not a good thing, but we’ll work on that.”
Madagascar’s willingness to keep the ball alive and attack from deep also exposed areas South Africa must tighten up before facing Uganda on Wednesday.
“The way they were offloading and putting us under pressure, especially at breakdown time, kept us honest,” September said. “At times we were turned over too easily because we did not have the numbers at the breakdown, but that is something we can fix.”
September reserved special praise for the six debutants who earned their first Test caps in the victory, with three of them scoring on their introduction to international rugby.
“They played their part and delivered, and we expected that,” he said. “They knew exactly what was coming and we’re so happy for them."