‘We wanted to disrupt their attack’: Springbok Women finish tour with Spain shutout

The Springbok Women ended their European tour on Sunday with a 20-0 win over Spain in Seville.

A WXV Global Series crossover fixture against Regis Sonnes’ Las Leonas, who finished third in the 2026 WXV Global Series Challenger, saw South Africa claim their second win of the tour.

In Seville, Catha Jacobs finished off a sensational scrum move to open the scoring after 14 minutes. Jakkie Cilliers converted the try before adding three more points from the tee in the 30th minute to give the visitors a 10-0 half-time lead.

There was some concern for the Springbok Women when their captain, Babalwa Latsha, left the pitch with an ankle injury, while her replacement, Nombuyekezo Mdliki, was later stretchered off.

In the second half, Aseza Hele and Cilliers both crossed for tries as South Africa kept Spain at bay to wrap up their European tour on a high.

“We wanted to disrupt their attack to make sure they couldn’t get going, and the fact that they could not score tells you how successful that was,” South Africa co-head coach Franzel September said.

“We managed to kill their attack at source. Another highlight for us was our discipline – we neither conceded any cards nor executed any high tackles. One of our aims is to be the best-disciplined side at the next World Cup, and we set a good standard towards that today.”

Despite his glowing assessment of South Africa’s performance, September acknowledged there was still room for improvement, particularly with Ireland set to visit Cape Town for back-to-back Test matches.

Like the Springbok Women, Ireland have played three Test matches over the past three weeks and have experienced mixed fortunes. Scott Bemand’s side began their WXV Global Series campaign with a 40-36 loss to the USA Women’s Eagles in Dublin, but have since claimed back-to-back wins over Japan, the most recent of which came in an out-of-window fixture in Cork.

South Africa began the WXV Global Series with a 50-19 loss to Wales in Cardiff before getting back to winning ways against Wales and then securing victory in Seville.

“We did leave some tries out there, but to finish the tour with such a commanding win was great for us,” he said.

“We can now look back on the gains from the tour and, once we come back to South Africa, start focusing on the two matches against Ireland in Cape Town later this month.”