The Springbok Women are keen to eliminate mistakes from their matches in recent weeks when they face Samoa in their final warm-up test before the start of WXV in Hermanus on Saturday.
The Bok Women played matches against the Mastercard Golden Lions Women, Kenya, the San Clemente Rhinos and the Barbarians over the last couple of weeks, all with the aim of hitting the forthcoming WXV tournament in the best possible shape.
According to Springbok Women assistant coach Franzel September, they are cutting down on errors and aiming for better execution every week and when they run out against Samoa on Saturday, they expect to be better than a week ago against the Barbarians in Cape Town.
“We have to learn from those lessons and eliminate the things we did not do well,” said September.
“As an example, we faltered at times from a physicality point of view and allowed them to dominate us, something that should not have happened. They brought a lot of pace to the game and showed good skills in execution, and we were slow to adapt.
“Against Samoa, we will most likely be tested in that regard again, as they have a big pack of forwards, so we will have to step up. We cannot give metres away cheaply.”
For the coaching staff, there will not be a change in their approach to give every player in the squad as many playing minutes as possible before WXV starts against Scotland on 13 October in Stellenbosch.
“We did cut the squad to 30 as per tournament regulations this week but will still use this opportunity to grow experience and confidence in the group,” said September.
“We are most likely going to use all 30 players during the next four weeks, so it will be important for the players as well to use this test to hone their skills even further. We are prepared, it is just about fine-tuning some aspects.”
The match will be played at Hermanus High School and for September, who earlier this year guided the Boland Kavaliers to the Currie Cup First Division title, it will be a homecoming of sorts.
“It is wonderful to have the Springbok Women play in the Boland province,” he said. “We are really trying to build an audience with this team and this match is another outreach in that regard.
“It is also apt to play there, given the misfortunes of the region in the last couple of days with all the floods that happened. We can bring some smiles and hope to the people of the area by delivering a good performance in the green and gold.”
The match day squad will be announced on Thursday.
