‘Ireland outplayed us’: Springbok Women coach admits shortcomings

Springbok Women co-head coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt gave an honest assessment of her team’s 40-27 loss to Ireland at Athlone Stadium.

As both teams resumed their WXV Global Series 2026 campaigns, it was Ireland that helped themselves to a six-try victory in Cape Town, with Linda Djougang crossing the whitewash twice.

It was a frustrating performance from the hosts, who made a number of unforced errors and failed to make the most of good field position on several occasions.

“They outplayed us at times, but we can fix what happened,” Johannes-Haupt said.

“We will come back next week more determined to make sure we are clinical. We scored five good tries and could have had more if we were more clinical when on attack. Our defence was also not accurate enough at times.”

There will be some honest conversations at the post-match review, she said, but also positives as they know what can be fixed: “We will get back to work on Monday and work hard to redeem ourselves for next weekend.”

The two teams will not have to wait all that long to meet again. Next Saturday, at the same venue, the teams will conclude a two-match series.

For the Springbok Women, their main priority will be to end the year on a high. Until September, everything was going the tenth-ranked team in the world’s way.

Before Swys de Bruin’s abrupt exit, the group had maintained a grip on the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, drawn a Test series with the USA Women’s Eagles and completed a tour whitewash of Fiji.

Since then the team have endured a heavy loss to the Black Ferns and were beaten by Wales in their WXV Global Series opener.

Now back on home soil to conclude 2026, the desire to end the year with a win is strong.

“We know who we play for and what we play for,” Tose said. “Today we disappointed a lot of people by not getting a result that we are capable of.

“We do want to inspire others, especially young girls to take up the game, but then we must make them proud. That is why today’s result was so disappointing.”