The Springbok Women may have suffered a narrow 26-19 defeat to the USA at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, 11 July 2026, but head coach Swys de Bruin insists the days of his team quietly accepting defeat are officially over.
Despite the loss, which meant the two-match series ended in a 1-1 draw, De Bruin expressed immense satisfaction with his squad's trajectory. Reflecting on the team's massive leaps forward, the head coach noted that a series draw against a powerhouse nation like the USA would have been an easy sell just two months ago.
"If you asked me two months ago if I would accept a drawn series, I would have taken it," De Bruin said. "After today, where we did not play our best rugby, I am still pleased with the progress. We were one try away from drawing the match, and the fightback we showed was very pleasing."
The performance at Loftus Versfeld showcased a resilient South African outfit that refused to lie down. After securing a historic win the previous weekend, the narrow deficit in Pretoria proved that the Bok Women are now genuinely competitive against the world's best.
De Bruin praised this shift in mindset, pointing out that his players now expect to win every time they take the field.
“The days of us accepting defeat are gone, and I love that attitude,” he claimed. “We are now taking on the big teams and matches against them are a real arm wrestle. Look back at a year ago when Canada rolled us over here at Loftus. The progress is real, and we can feel it.”
While De Bruin was highly pleased with the three high-quality tries his team scored, he acknowledged that the performance was far from flawless. In particular, the breakdown area caused significant frustration, with the referee's whistle frequently penalising the South Africans.
The coaching staff plans to review the breakdown tape thoroughly, using the sting of the loss as fuel for growth. With a demanding 2026 calendar still ahead, the physical and tactical lessons learned from this series will serve as the perfect springboard.
"I will have a good look at what went wrong there. Maybe our support players did not arrive in time, or maybe they got lucky, but the bottom line was that it robbed us of momentum, and we just could not get going. It was frustrating, but it is something we can fix."
The squad will have a short rest before they return to their Stellenbosch base to prepare for a two-Test tour to Fiji in August.
“We have some tough matches for the rest of the year, and we will have to dig deep,” De Bruin added. “What I know about our team after these two matches is that their fight is real and they refuse to give up. The fact that we scored three very good tries was also very pleasing."
Article by Melissa Nel