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Boks women coach opts for unchanged starting XV to take on Fiji on Sunday

14 October 2022, 2:39 PM |

Simon Burke | @SABCNews

SA Springbok Women team at the stadium

Image: Springboks.rugby

SA Springbok Women team at the stadium

The Springbok women’s rugby team named their side to face Fiji in their second Pool C match of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand on Sunday.

Boks coach Stanley Raubenheimer opted for an unchanged starting fifteen because he is eager to see how his first-choice side can bounce back after an opening loss to France last weekend.

The Springbok women will play Fiji on Sunday morning at the Waitakere Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

With the experience of playing fourth-ranked France under their belts, and also watching closely what England did to Fiji in the next match, the Boks women are confident that their brand of rugby will win out against the Fijians if they are flawless and decisive.

If they keep the play structured, the Boks will be able to call the shots, if play gets broken, they will have to be aware that the threats can come from anywhere.

Bok women’s coach is sending out an unchanged starting fifteen to pick up where they left off against France.

“We knew that they would be an attacking team we knew their set pieces might be under a bit of a challenge hence we stick to the thing that we think should give us a victory on Sunday our set pieces went well I think it is more about what we have done against France and some of the things that we wanted to do and that came through on that match that gave us almost a confidence to go with an unchanged team,” says Raubenheimer.

Saturday’s 40-5 loss to France highlights the difference between the top-ranked sides with all the resources at their disposal, and teams in a building phase, like the Boks women, who are laying foundations for the game in the country.

Players like fullback Nadine Roos, know the value in the long run of playing against the best and on the biggest stage.

“If you look at the team’s performance against France on Saturday I don’t think we did too bad we had a lot of opportunities that we just could not finish off and I think that is where experience comes in experience playing on these world stages,” says Roos.

Out of the three Pool matches, the Boks women will play at this World Cup, their match against Fiji will be the one opportunity for them to put what they have learnt into practice and not feel out of their depth.

Lock forward, Rights Mkhari, can’t wait to front up to the physically imposing Fijians in the set pieces.

“We are looking forward to stick to our processes dominating from our set pieces and our lineouts and our scrums so we are looking forward to challenging Fiji as well as they would be challenging us and we don’t want to take them for granted but we still want to go for them and we want to do our best in what we think we are good at,” explain Mkhari.

There has been a heavy emphasis in the Bok camp that they need to beat Fiji at all costs. It will bode well for their tournament aspirations, but also lay down a marker about where the women’s game is and what needs to be improved upon.