Springbok Women's flyhalf Mary Zulu runs at the Uganda defence during Wednesday's hard-fought Rugby Africa Cup round two fixture that exposed defensive frailties among the South Africans.
The Springbok Women may have comfortably extended their stellar unbeaten run against African opposition on Wednesday, but assistant coach Franzel September believes an untidy 47-20 victory over Uganda delivered a timely reminder of the standards required at the sharp end of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup.
South Africa were pushed significantly harder than expected at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi, conceding two shock early tries before eventually pulling away to maintain their strong position heading into Sunday’s tournament decider against hosts Kenya. Alarmingly, the team also conceded first during the weekend's opening 64-5 victory over Madagascar.
While pleased with the sheer character shown by his side to regain control of the contest, September freely admitted the patchy performance exposed clear defensive areas that stronger international opponents could punish far more severely.
“We conceded two tries in the first 10 minutes through a combination of them doing well to keep the ball alive, and us not making proper hits and dropping off first-time tackles,” September said afterwards. “Uganda can move the ball nicely and we did not respond to that, and we paid the price. That was a good lesson for a relatively new group of players.”
