By
Springbok Women coach Swys de Bruin says there are plenty of positives to take despite a heavy 57–10 loss to France in their last group stages fixture in the Women’s Rugby World Cup at Franklin’s Gardens.
The defeat confirmed a quarter-final clash with defending champions New Zealand in Exeter.
With qualification already secured at the start of Sunday’s encounter, De Bruin rotated his squad, resting several frontline players while handing valuable World Cup minutes to those yet to feature.
He says the experience will be important for the team’s growth.
"Look what went well is that we fought right to the end, let's be positive. Another positive is that we did rest about nine of our players for the quarterfinals and we gave exposure to a lot of young new girls and we learnt a lot. So, from that point of view, I'm very happy," de Bruin said.
France, ranked fourth in the world, showed their quality against a South African side placed 10th.
After convincing wins over Brazil and Italy in the pool stages, De Bruin admits the loss was a wake-up call about the intensity and accuracy required against top-tier opponents.
"Obviously, you know, France is a bloody strong team, they've got a setplay, we scrum well until we met them and they taught us, they sit upfront in the scrum," the coach explained.
De Bruin says the defeat underlined the need to sharpen up in the forwards battle, where France dominated.
He is backing forwards coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt to ensure the Boks make the necessary adjustments ahead of their daunting quarter-final against the Black Ferns next weekend.
"Coach Laurian is a clever, clever coach and she'll work out a plan, I know she'll work out a plan. We'll sit and go through it and lot of positives, we take it on the chin. There were 16 teams, eight went home, South Africa is still staying, so let's focus on that."
