By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Springbok Women endured a bruising start to their WXV Global Series campaign, suffering a heavy 19-50 defeat against a dominant Wales outfitat Cardiff Arms Park on Friday.
The hosts scored eight tries thanks to a mixture of power and precision but there was also defensive steel to frustrate South Africa in the red zone on several occasions.
The Springbok Women conceded two yellow cards in the first 40 minutes, first when Lindelwa Gwala was send to the bin for a cynical offence and soon after when Danelle Lochner was yellow carded for a high tackle, with the SA side going into halftime trailing 38-5.
Lochner’s card was upgraded to a red and the visitors had to play against the rampant home side with 14 players for 20 minutes.
“We did ourselves no favours with our discipline,” Springbok Women co-coach, Laurian Johannes-Haupt said afterwards.
“Wales really came hard at us in that first half and our response was not good enough. We conceded too many penalties and those two cards really cost us. Obviously, we did not prepare to play like that, so it was a huge disappointment for all of us, as we let ourselves down. That is not our standard and that is not the team we are.”
The coach said they were not surprised by the way the Welsh played in the first half, so the poor discipline was not in reaction to something unexpected.
“They came out playing exactly as we expected, so our efforts to combat that was disappointing. We will have a hard look at our efforts today and why we came up short and then start our focus on Italy, our next opponent.”
Captain Babalwa Latsha said Wales deserved the win, as they were more clinical in their execution.
“We did play much better in the second half, with the difference being that we finished off much better. We had many chances, I think we were held up three times over the line. We are better that this performance. But that is rugby,” Latsha said.
“The Global Series showed its value tonight, top sides taking on each other and there is no definite winner when you kick off. We are disappointed about the result, but I know we will come back stronger.”
Latsha said this result will not define the team. “The home and away aspect of this WXV brings a different challenge every week and tonight we were not good enough against a Welsh side that outplayed us. Next up is Italy and that is another opportunity for us to redeem this performance,” Latsha said.
South Africa will need to regroup quickly with Italy next on the schedule next Saturday.
WALES WOMEN – Tries: Courtney Keight, Sisilia Tuipulotu (2), Seren Lockwood, Maisie Davies, Kelsey Jones, Lisa Neumann, Alex Callender. Conversions: Freya Bell (5).
SPRINGBOKS WOMEN – Tries: Felicia Jacobs, Maria Tshiremba, Maceala Samboya. Conversions: Byrhandré Dolf (2).