South African rugby has never been in a better place. The Springboks men\u2019s side has just added yet another trophy to an already stuffed cabinet and the Springbok Women exceeded expectations on a remarkable run at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Yet the gap between South Africa\u2019s two rugby worlds remains enormous \u2013 20.58 ranking points separate the men\u2019s world champions from their fast-rising female counterparts. Among nations ranked inside both top tens, no one else is even close; Ireland\u2019s divide of 11.13 points is the next largest.<\/p>\n
But, as the Springbok Women\u2019s coach, Swys de Bruin, said after his side\u2019s quarterfinal loss to New Zealand, the \u201cpotential for growth is enormous\u201d. With a few tweaks and sound investment, South Africa<\/a> can make good on de Bruin\u2019s promise and compete for a World Cup crown in the not too distant future.<\/p>\n More professional teams are needed \u201cWe really need other teams to step up,\u201d Jackie Cilliers, the versatile Springboks and Daisies back, said earlier this year. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be part of a professional group where you can just go out and have everything set up for you, but if I\u2019m honest, there\u2019s nothing that challenges you on game day.\u201d<\/p>\n Of the 23 players who were involved in the match against New Zealand, 13 represent the Daisies including fly-half Libbie Janse van Rensburg, fullback Byrhandr\u00e9 Dolf and loose forward Sizophila Solontsi.<\/p>\n Such an imbalance is unsustainable and will only hold back South African rugby. \u201cWe need competition,\u201d de Bruin added. That can only come about if more provincial boards adequately invest in the women\u2019s game. Until the Daisies are challenged, the national team will bump up against a glass ceiling.<\/p>\n A more diverse attack is needed When it worked \u2013 as it did against Italy<\/a> and in the first half against New Zealand \u2013 it was near unstoppable. Bodies in green pounded the mainline like a relentless wave, carrying upfield with conviction and power. But when defences adjusted and the gain line stalled, there was no reliable alternative.<\/p>\n When required, they struggled to shift the point of attack, to stretch play wide or manipulate space through their backs. Against elite teams, that lack of variation left them predictable. Developing a more layered, ball-in-hand strategy \u2013 one that complements their physical edge with guile and width \u2013 is the next evolution they must make.<\/p>\n Shifting Janse van Rensburg to centre might be an option. Midfielders Aphiwe Ngwevu<\/a>, Zintle Mpupha<\/a> and Chumisa Qawe<\/a> are hard runners, but they lack the distribution needed to spark a move from beyond first receiver. Janse van Rensburg has the heft to play through the 12 channel but also has a swift passing and kicking game that could take South Africa\u2019s attack to a higher level of sophistication.<\/p>\n More fixtures against elite opposition De Bruin himself has been vocal about the need for consistent high-level competition: \u201cHow can you improve if you don\u2019t play strength versus strength?\u201d he asked after the World Cup. It\u2019s a question that echoes through the sport.<\/p>\n Ideally South Africa would slot into a permanent southern-hemisphere tournament alongside New Zealand, Australia<\/a> and the Pacific Island nations (Argentina does not have a women\u2019s programme so a like-for-like Rugby Championship<\/a> would not be possible). Travel and accommodation expenses would undoubtedly be a factor, but if the national boards are serious about the growth of the women\u2019s game an international tournament that exists beyond the WXV is needed.<\/p>\n The European heavyweights have the benefit of playing in an annual Six Nations. Perhaps the South Africans could take part? A cross-hemisphere \u201cWomen\u2019s Nations Cup\u201d model, with home-and-away legs, would ensure sustained exposure to different playing styles and refereeing interpretations.<\/p>\n The Springboks have shown they can physically match most teams; what they need is experience in the fine margins; tactical kicking battles, line-speed adaptation, and last-quarter composure under scoreboard pressure. You can only learn that by living it repeatedly.<\/p>\n More exposure in elite leagues Only a handful of South Africans have experience in the world\u2019s top league so far. Zintle Mpupha with Exeter Chiefs, Babalwa Latsha<\/a> and Aseza Hele<\/a> with Harlequins<\/a> and Catha Jacobs<\/a> with Saracens<\/a> and Leicester Tigers, and Danelle Lochner<\/a>, also at Harlequins. Two of them remain active in the league, while the rest have returned home to strengthen the Bulls Daisies or their provincial sides.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen\u2019s rugby in South Africa is of course not as developed as it is in England,\u201d Latsha told Rugbypass in 2023 during her spell with Harlequins. \u201cEverything I learn here I\u2019ll take back to South Africa. I want to help raise the standard any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n The benefits of those stints are clear: players exposed to full-time, elite environments return sharper, more adaptable, and better equipped to make decisions under pressure, bringing back habits in analysis, conditioning, and tactical precision that lift everyone around them. South Africa doesn\u2019t yet have the domestic depth to replicate that intensity, so creating formal pathways into overseas leagues is crucial, ensuring a steady stream of talent gains experience abroad without draining the local game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South African rugby has never been in a better place. The Springboks men\u2019s side has just added yet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-187807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Since turning professional in 2023, the Bulls Daisies from Pretoria have won 37 of the 38 games they\u2019ve played across three dominant, title-winning seasons. Their 2025 campaign alone underlined the gulf they\u2019ve opened up in South African women\u2019s rugby, averaging a staggering 61-point winning margin as they powered to a third consecutive championship.<\/p>\n
With Aseze Hele rampaging from the back of the pack, and slick cohesion among the rest of the forwards around the point of contact, South Africa had a clear plan with ball in hand. They looked to keep it tight, forcing the opposition to make a series of tackles as one-off runners hammered the fringe.<\/p>\n
After beating Italy, and holding New Zealand<\/a> to 10-10 at half-time, South Africa proved that they can hang with the game\u2019s top teams. But without regular fixtures against tier one nations, they\u2019ll struggle to sustain that level. At present, the Springbok Women\u2019s calendar is sporadic, with long gaps between meaningful tests.<\/p>\n
While the Bulls Daisies have set the domestic standard, South Africa\u2019s players need more consistent exposure to the tempo and precision of top-tier leagues like England\u2019s Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby. It\u2019s no coincidence that the tournament provided 129 players to this year\u2019s World Cup, with nations such as England, Canada<\/a> and Wales<\/a> all fielding sides heavily populated by PWR<\/a> professionals.<\/p>\n