South Africa v Spain: Numbers don't lie

SPAIN v SOUTH AFRICA ON SUNDAY, 4 OCTOBER – KO 12PM (SAST) @ ESTADIO LA CARTUJA, SEVILLE

The match will be streamed live on RugbyPass TV where no local broadcaster.

REFEREE NOTES

Bérénice Loubet (France)

• Bérénice Loubet will make her Test debut as a referee with this fixture.

• She was an assistant referee for four matches in this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations and also refereed the England v Ireland fixture in the U21 Women’s Six Nations Series.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

2014-2025 | Played 9 | Spain 3 | South Africa 6

Points for: South Africa 232/Spain 179 (Avg. score: 26-20)

Highest score: Spain 36 (36-0 on 17 August, 2014)/South Africa 48 (48-26 on 19 April, 2025)

Biggest winning margin: Spain (36-0 on 17 August, 2014) / South Africa 39 (44-5 on 13 August, 2022)

First met: 17 August, 2014 – RWC 2014 – Spain 36-0 South Africa – FFR HQ, Marcoussis, France

• Spain won the first three meetings but South Africa have won the last six.

• South Africa scored a record 48 points when they last met Spain, beating their previous best of haul of 44 in 2022.

• The Springbok Women scored five first-half tries, of which three were converted, as they built a deserving 31-5 lead over their hosts.

• No 8 Aseza Hele crossed twice before the break, with Sinazo Mcatshulwa, Lindelwa Gwala and Jakkie Cilliers scoring their remaining first-half tries.

• Twelve points were scored while Spain winger Amalia Argudo was in the sin-bin.

• Her fellow winger, Tecla Masoko Bueriberi, opened Spain’s account on the stroke of half-time.

• The teams lost a player each to the sin bin in the second half (Lourdes Alameda for Spain and Alicia Willemse for the Springbok Women).

• Libbie Janse van Rensburg, Tayla Kinsey and Yonela Ngxingolo crossed for South Africa in the second period.

• Spain scored two consolation tries in the final quarter, Bueriberi getting her second before Laura Delgado got in on the act.

• Cilliers converted four of South Africa’s tries to end up with 13 points in the match, while Argudo was successful with three conversion attempts for Spain.

• South Africa hooker Lindelwa Gwala has scored in each of the last four meetings (four tries).

SPAIN TEAM NOTES

• With Spain’s match against Brazil last weekend cancelled due to heat delays and both teams being awarded two points as per tournament rules, Las Leonas finished third in the inaugural WXV Global Series Challenger behind Fiji and the Netherlands.

• Spain won one and lost one of the two games that they played, both against Pacific opposition.

• Las Leonas ran in nine tries, eight of them converted, to secure their first win of the competition against Samoa (61-21) a fortnight ago.

• A starting line-up showing nine changes from the 38-32 defeat to Fiji proved too strong for Samoa from the off, with 33 unanswered points scored in the first half.

• Claudia Perez Perez opened Las Leonas’ account after just three minutes before Valentina Lucia Pérez Marquez bagged the first of her two tries in the match.

• Anne Fernández de Corres, Alba Capell and Victoria Rosell Martínez piled on the agony for Samoa, while captain Claudia Peña Hidalgo converted all but one of the tries.

• The sides then traded tries in a much more even second half, Spain finding a response through Ana Cortes, Amalia Argudo and María Miguel Gil each time Samoa crossed their line, in addition to a second score from Perez Marquez.

• Peña Hidalgo and Argudo ensured all four second-half tries were turned into seven-pointers with a couple of conversions apiece.

• Pérez Marquez also scored a double in the opening round loss to Fiji, in which Spain threw away a 32-19 lead with only 10 minutes left to play.

• Her brace and a try apiece from Claudia Cano and Amalia Argudo, who also kicked 12 points, had put Las Leonas into a commanding position until Fiji reeled off 19 points without reply to take the win.

• Spain retained the Rugby Europe Women’s Championship title for the ninth consecutive year in April as a result of wins against Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands.

• Spain have won their last 22 games in the competition.

• Twelve different players scored tries for Spain in the Rugby Europe Women’s Championship, with Amalia Argudo being the top try scorer with four.

• She is also the top points scorer for Spain in 2026, with 58 points, her tally including five tries, 12 conversions and three penalties.

• She is also her team’s leading try scorer this year, along with Valentina Lucia Pérez Marquez.

• Only 12 of Spain’s 20 tries were converted in the Rugby Europe Women’s Championship.

• Spain endured a winless Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 campaign, finishing bottom of Pool C after three defeats against New Zealand, Ireland and Japan.

• Spain made more tackles than any other team in the tournament (201).

• Las Leonas were one of only two teams to have a 100% scrum success rate (also Japan).

SQUAD NOTES

• Las Leonas captain Lourdes Alameda is still one cap away from becoming the seventh player to win 50 caps for her country following the cancellation of last weekend’s match against Brazil.

• Aroa González (74), Inés Etxegibel (64), Rocío García (64), Isabel Rodríguez (56), Bárbara Pla (53) and Laura Delgado (53) are the current half-centurions.

COACH NOTES

• Régis Sonnes was named as Las Leonas’ head coach in November 2025 on a three-year contract.

• He suffered his first defeat in round one against Fiji (P5, W4, L1 – win percentage 80%).

• The Frenchman was head coach of Spain’s men’s side between 2010 and 2012, winning seven of his 13 Tests.

• The 54-year-old also has extensive coaching experience in club rugby with Stade Toulousain, SU Agen and CA Brive in France, CRC Madrid and, more recently, with Bandon RFC in Ireland.

SOUTH AFRICA TEAM NOTES

• This will be South Africa’s 11th Test of the year, their most-ever in a calendar year.

• They still have a further two matches to play in the WXV Global Series, against Ireland in Cape Town on 24 and 31 October.

• South Africa bounced back from their opening round WXV Global Series defeat to Wales with a 41-29 victory against hosts Italy last weekend.

• The Springbok Women responded to falling behind to a fifth-minute try by scoring 24 unanswered points, with Anushka Groenewald scoring twice, either side of Byrhandré Dolf’s effort and a try on the half-hour mark from Maria Tshiremba, along with two Jakkie Cilliers conversions.

• Cilliers’ 54th-minute penalty was their only source of points for the next half-hour, during which time they not only lost loose-head prop Yonela Ngxingolo to the sin-bin but also the lead, with Italy going 29-27 up with 16 minutes left to play.

• However, tries from Micke Gunter and Logan Welman, which Cilliers converted, settled the match in the Springbok Women’s favour.

• South Africa’s 10 entries into the Italian 22 yielded an average of 4.1 points per visit.

• They made almost as many carries as Italy (92-94) but could only manage 241 post-contact metres compared to Italy’s 372.

• Winger Tshiremba now has five tries in three caps, having scored a hat-trick on debut against Fiji following her move to 15s from sevens.

• Anushka Groenewald is the 29th different player to score for the Springbok Women this year.

• Welman has drawn level with second-row Vainah Ubisi as South Africa’s leading try scorer in 2026, with six.

• Cilliers is the team’s leading points scorer in 2026 with 65, including two tries.

• South Africa only played 21 minutes of the first half against Wales with their full complement of players, following a yellow card to Lindelwa Gwala in the 21st minute and a red card to Danelle Lochner in the 35th minute.

• Lochner has since had the red card rescinded following a referral by the Foul Play Review Committee (FPRC) for a full disciplinary hearing.

• South Africa trailed 38-5 at the break in Cardiff, with Felicia Jacobs scoring their only points of the first half.

• Jacobs’ try was South Africa’s 50th of 2026.

• Tshiremba and Maceala Samboya crossed within a six-minute spell as the Springbok Women staged a brief rally in the third quarter, with Dolf converting both of the tries.

• South Africa had three more entries into the opposition 22 than Wales (14-11) but could only muster an average of 1.3 points per visit as opposed to Wales’ 4.5.

• The 50-19 loss was their heaviest defeat and the most points they have conceded in 22 years of playing Wales.

• It was only the second time this year that South Africa have failed to score 20 points (also a 26-19 defeat v USA).

• The Springbok Women have broken new ground this year by hosting a series against the USA, playing an away series in Fiji and a first-ever game on home soil against New Zealand.

• South Africa began 2026 with a successful defence of their Rugby Africa Women’s Cup Performance Division title following a 35-20 win over hosts Kenya in the title decider on 31 May.

• They had already beaten Madagascar 64-5 and Uganda 47-20 in Nairobi.

SQUAD NOTES

• Libbie Janse van Rensburg (ankle) and Ayanda Malinga (knee) haven’t travelled to Spain due to injury, while Byrhandré Dolf will be assessed after completing her HIA 3 protocols to see if she is also ruled out.

• Mary Zulu, who last played for the Springbok Women in the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in Kenya in May, joined the squad on Monday to provide flyhalf cover.

• The 23-year-old made her test debut on Spanish soil – against Canada in 2023 – and was a member of the squad that played at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

• She has played in 18 Tests, scoring 45 points and also captained the South African Women’s ‘A’ side to Brazil last month.

COACH NOTES

• Franzel September and Laurian Johannes-Haupt were appointed as co-head coaches after Swys de Bruin stepped down on the eve of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series match against New Zealand in September.

• They have already fulfilled the role on two previous victorious tours this year, for the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup and the two-test series in Fiji.

• Junior Springboks assistant coach Melusi Mthethwa has been drafted in as part of the coaching team and Dave Wessels, SA Rugby’s General Manager for High-Performance, has also been involved in preparations.

• De Bruin initially joined the union’s high-performance department in August 2024 before being appointed Springbok Women coach.

• During his time in charge of the team, the 66-year-old led the Springbok Women to new heights, headlined by their run to the quarter-finals of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

• The team also entered the top 10 of the World Rugby Women’s Rugby Rankings for the first time.

• In total, De Bruin won 14 of the 21 Test matches he presided over (66.7%)

DID YOU KNOW…?

• South Africa’s victory over Italy was the second time this year that they have beaten a higher ranked team after USA in July.

• The Springbok Women have won their last six meetings with Spain, having lost the first three.

WORLD RUGBY WOMEN’S RANKINGS PERMUTATIONS

• South Africa cannot improve on 10th place this weekend as they can only gain a maximum of 0.31 rating points for beating Spain by more than 15 points.

• Spain are unable to catch Fiji in 13th with a first win over South Africa since 2019.

• South Africa will be replaced in the top 10 by Japan if they lose and the Sakura Fifteen beat Ireland with one matches decided by more than 15 points.

Springbok Women starting XV: 15 Jakkie Cilliers, 14 Alichia Arries, 13 Maceala Samboya, 12 Shiniqwa Lamprecht, 11 Patience Mokone; 10 Byrhandré Dolf, 9 Unam Tose; 8 Aseza Hele, 7 Lerato Makua, 6 Sizophila Solontsi; 5 Catha Jacobs, 4 Vainah Ubisi; 3 Babalwa Latsha (capt), 2 Anushka Groenewald, 1 Xoliswa Khuzwayo. Replacements: 16 Lindelwa Gwala, 17 Yonela Ngxingolo, 18 Nombuyekezo Mdliki, 19 Danelle Lochner, 20 Logan Welman, 21 Aphiwe Ngwevu, 22 Felicia Jacobs, 23 Mary Zulu.