Ability to adapt key for Springbok Women

The Springbok Women may not have been mentioned in two significant updates from World Rugby on Monday but with both, a quiet moment of celebration was shared within the team at their training base in Cape Town.

That is according to Springbok Women inside centre Shiniqwa Lamprecht after the side completed another solid training session at the University of Cape Town as they prepare to take on Ireland in the WXV Global Series in what will be their final Test of the year.

Lamprecht, who only joined the Springbok Women at the completion of the HSBC SVNS World Championships in July and made her fifteens debut against Fiji a couple of weeks later, said they were caught short last weekend due to some streetwise moments from their opponents but she was adamant that it will not happen again when they face them again at 3pm on Saturday.

“They played streetwise rugby at times and without delving into that, managed to disrupt us at times – they are not No 5 in the world for nothing,” said Lamprecht, who is in line for her seventh Test cap after playing in 21 tournaments, in which she scored 11 tries for the Springbok Women’s Sevens.

“After our reviews and looking back to the first Test, we got sucked into rucks where we did not belong and that created gaps in our defensive line that they managed to exploit. That will not happen again this weekend.

“The benefits from playing against the best teams in the world are there for all to see and we are embracing every opportunity. When the season started, we were 10th on the world ranking, and we have moved to ninth. Victory on Saturday will see us improve to eighth – those are massive gains for the team and a huge motivation for us.”

Lamprecht said the support for the Springbok Women is another inspiration: “Look at the crowd that came out to Athlone, it was amazing as they brought so much energy and vibe. As a player, it is really nice playing in front of crowds like that and I can only ask that they come out again this weekend. We owe them a win.”

With regards to the world rankings, the Springbok Women are closing in on Italy in eighth place and a win over Ireland will move them past the Europeans, who are on 71.99 ranking points, with South Africa on 71.29.

The match-23 for Saturday’s second Test will be named on Thursday. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.