Springbok Women take key lessons from mixed showing as Nairobi win exposes areas for growth

Springbok Women take key lessons from mixed showing as Nairobi win exposes areas for growth

The Springbok Women endured a shaky start against Uganda in Nairobi on Wednesday but assistant coach Franzel September said the side can take valuable lessons from their 47-20 comeback victory in the Rugby Africa Women's Cup.

A mixed bag in Nairobi resulted in a 47-20 win for South Africa to maintain their unbeaten streak against African opponents, but it wasn't their best performance of the last few years.

"We conceded two tries in the first 10 minutes, through a combination of them doing well to keep the ball alive, and us not making proper hits and dropping off first time tackles," September said afterwards.

"Uganda can move the ball nicely and we did not respond to that, and we paid the price. That was a good lesson for a relatively new group of players."

The Springbok Women regained their composure to score 47 points in the match, but they also fell foul to the referee, conceding a rash of penalties and a yellow card.

September said: "We did not adapt well to the referee, who is the person in charge, but as we took control of the match and eliminated our errors, we could get more flow in our game. Once that happened, we scored some nice tries.

"We had three new caps today and they played well. I was also very pleased with the six players who were playing in their second Test match, it is part of the process to bring in the next group of players, and we will benefit from that decision."

September added they will be ready for Sunday's final match against Kenya, who beat Madagascar 57-0 to effectively set up a decider.

"We needed some adversity to remind ourselves of the fight we have in us, and that came through today," he said. "We recovered well and, in the end, controlled the match. That momentum takes us into our final game Sunday, and we will be ready to go."

The match against Kenya on Sunday will start at 15h00 (SA time).

READ MORE: Blitzboks not resting on laurels as season goals remain in sight