Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Springbok Women have achieved their primary objective — to reach the quarterfinals of the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England — and will go into their quarterfinal against New Zealand’s Black Ferns at Sandy Park in Exeter on Saturday with no fear of failure.
Instead, Bok Women assistant coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt said it will be a celebration of their journey and with a determined mindset to add more milestones.
“That will make the job easier for the players to focus on the job at hand,” Johannes-Haupt said.
“We do not need to worry about anything else. We can go out and play and make sure we stick to our processes. We have a plan for the match and prepared well. There is no way we will roll over because we are playing against a team that have won this tournament six times.”
The Black Ferns deserve the credit and accolades coming their way, but as in life, there are two sides to a story — or in this case two teams on the field — and such is the passion for the Springbok jersey they will refuse to lie down on Saturday, Johannes-Haupt said.
“Our set piece has been working well in recent encounters against teams including Canada, Italy and the Black Ferns XV and for the scrum coach that is a good foundation in taking on the third ranked team in the world.
“We pride ourselves on our set piece, and will try to get New Zealand to play on our terms for as long as possible.
“If we can force them to play in our strong areas, we will have a realistic chance. Obviously they would want to do the opposite and play with freedom out wide, where their skilled backs have scored some good tries in the tournament — so it will be a clash of styles.”
Johannes-Haupt played against New Zealand in the 2010 World Cup in England. She said the full-circle moment for her is a special feeling.
“What makes me most proud of it is to see where we are now, how much we have grown and especially how much our group have progressed over the past few seasons.
“Here we are, ready to play the biggest game of our lives and the players cannot wait to play and do their best. That is very rewarding for me, first as an ex-player but also as a coach.”
She believes the Springbok Women will step away from the tournament with a huge boost in belief and confidence irrespective of the result on Saturday.
“Look at our year. We played the No 2 and 4 teams in the world and on Saturday we play the third-ranked side and defending World Cup champions.
“What more can you ask for in a season where the matches were all critical in our development? That has been huge for us and 2025 has been a watershed year for the Springbok Women.
“We have the opportunity to make it even more special and will show up and represent everyone who backed us and those who are new supporters, and we will represent South Africa with everything we have.”
Bok Women flanker Sizophila Solontsi said the journey started at the previous World Cup.
“We’ve been working for this since the previous World Cup. which didn’t go our way and now we are among the top eight in the world,” she said.
“Seeing all those outcomes is a humbling rollercoaster of emotions for us, but one we are proud of.”
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