The performance of the Springbok Women forwards against Canada last Saturday brought smiles to the faces of their coaching staff, especially that of Laurian Johannes-Haupt, who is assisting interim coach Louis Koen on their two Test tour to Spain.
They held their own against the fourth-ranked Canadians and were beaming after a training session with the USA earlier on Tuesday, according to Johannes-Haupt, a former Springbok Women’s prop.
When they line up against Spain this weekend, the power of the pack will need to be optimised to full capacity if they want to beat the hosts in Madrid.
“We do take confidence out of the match against Canada and the session against the USA,” said Johannes-Haupt.
“We did really well in the scrums with an 80% success rate and this morning against the USA, we again did well.
“It is always good to measure yourself against opponents who are ranked higher than you, as that is how you improve. We want to thank the USA for this session this morning, it really helped a lot.”
The fact that South Africa was victorious against Spain in Johannesburg and Potchefstroom last year, gives the team some confidence, but according to the coach, it will not win the game for them.
“Certainly not,” she said. “There are elements from last year that we would like to replicate, but the reality is that this is a different team we are playing against, and they are at home.
“We will have to work very hard in this game if we want to beat them. They have played a number of matches already and we are only in our second Test of the year.”
Meanwhile, the Springbok Women team management has decided to postpone the announcement of the match-23 for the Spain Test to Thursday as they await the verdict on the disciplinary hearing of Catha Jacobs (lock), who was red-carded against Canada. She will appear before an independent judicial committee on Wednesday evening.