Ireland must ‘thrive’ in physical South Africa challenge

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand is relishing the challenge of testing his team against South Africa in a two-match tour as part of the WXV Global Series.

So far in the WXV Global Series, Ireland have lost to the USA Women’s Eagles and beaten Japan 31-24. In a second game against the Sakura Fifteen, played outside of the WXV Global Series window, Ireland were 43-19 winners in Cork.

But across their autumn fixtures, Ireland have struggled for consistency, turned over the ball regularly and given away more penalties than any head coach would have liked.

They have hardly put out the rip-roaring performances we saw for swathes of this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

The tour of South Africa will provide Ireland with a significantly different test, particularly physically. It will be the first time the two teams have played one another in 20 years and the first time Ireland have played a Test on South African soil.

“How many times do we actually get to go on tour?” Bemand said. “It’s not as regular as everybody thinks. The last one was WXV when we came second in the WXV tournament [in Canada].

“That gave us so many layers. We learned so much about people being away from home, being on tour, being a good tourist while still maintaining levels of performance and expectations.

“I’m really excited to go to South Africa. I’ve never been. So, it’s another layer for us. In three years’ time [at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029], we’re going to be away for about nine weeks.

“Having a three-week tour to Africa is well placed at the right time for us. And you know, we’ve got some learnings from some of the last three weeks that we’ve got to take over there to a completely different physical challenge. But in two weeks, we’ll be ready.”

Taking on South Africa will be a challenge for Ireland. Against the USA Women’s Eagles in September, Bemand’s team struggled with the physical intensity that the North Americans played with and surrendered a 19-point lead to lose 40-36 in front of their home support.

In 2026, the Springbok Women have made no secret of their desire to dominate teams at the set-piece and in defence.

That desire has yielded mixed results this calendar year. The side claimed a third consecutive Rugby Africa Women’s Cup title, drew a series against the USA, whitewashed Fiji in a two-match series and lost to the Black Ferns in a Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry clash.

It was ahead of that clash with the Springbok Women in Soweto that the mastermind of their Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 run to the quarter-final, Swys de Bruin, announced his abrupt departure from his position.

Now led by co-head coaches Laurian Johannes-Haupt and Franzel September, South Africa have lost to Wales, while picking up wins against Italy and Spain.

For Ireland, whose attack took them to victory in back-to-back Test matches against the Sakura Fifteen, a two-match tour in Cape Town will force the squad to answer questions they have previously struggled with.

“They come with a slightly different game,” Bemand said. “They’ve got a physicality, they’ve got a physical presence, and we know that’s coming. So our team and the forwards perhaps even specifically have got to manage that. We don’t just want to survive it, we want to thrive in it.

“We’ll find ways that we can impose our game on them, and I’m sure we will. We’ve seen bits of our game being imposed. It’s got to be a bit more relentless with it. And when we’re under physical pressure, we’ve got to be able to withstand that.”