There were some lapses in concentration and poor play in their victory over the Zimbabwean Under-20s in East London on Tuesday, but Junior Springbok Women head coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt was pleased with the overall effort by her squad and feels that a number of players showed good promise in this pathway to the Springbok Women set-up.

The Junior Bok Women held a 19-0 lead at the break of the match played at Baysville High School, but missed out on a number of try-scoring opportunities, especially in the second half. South Africa won the match by 29-10.

“We may have missed out in certain areas, but other areas proved very positive and that was very encouraging,” said Johannes-Haupt of the performance against the Junior Sables Women.

“We did well in the scrums and our lineout also functioned well and that was pleasing to see. We dominated them up front.”

Johannes-Haupt lamented the lack of urgency on defence though as that gave the opponents opportunities with ball in hand.

“Our speed off the line was not great, and that allowed Zimbabwe to play with the ball a lot and put us under pressure in that regard,” she said.

“Because of us rushing off the line on defence, we were under a lot of pressure, something we created ourselves. We could have done better in some other areas as well, so overall, it was not the performance we wanted. We just did not gel as a team and that showed.”

She remains optimistic though: “There were enough good things in this game to work on and it was pleasing to see a number of players showing an ability to achieve higher honours.

“We have seen this team provide a pathway towards the Springbok Women set-up in past years and there are definitely players in this team that will graduate into the senior team,” she added.

Issued by SA Rugby Communications