Springbok Women’s coach De Bruin admits concern over breakdown ahead of Italy clash

Despite their impressive start to the Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign in England with a record-breaking 66-6 victory over Brazil in Northampton on Sunday, Springbok Women’s coach Swys de Bruin remains concerned about the breakdown.

It will no doubt be an area of focus for the South Africans ahead of this weekend’s second Pool D clash against Italy at York Community Stadium, which promises to be a closer encounter.

“You know it’s early days. Italy will be a totally different opponent,” De Bruin said in the aftermath of Sunday’s win against the tournament’s lowest-ranked side.

“There was nice variation in our play between forwards and backs. We knew when to attack what space at the right time. But I’m still worried about the breakdown in the first half. We lacked numbers there; everyone wanted to be the hero. The second half was much better.

“But saying that, for us to score 10 tries at a world tournament and stop them from scoring a try was brilliant.”

The Bok Women lost six rucks and conceded nine turnovers in their tournament opener, despite enjoying 65% of possession and 71% of territory against the Brazilians. While the statistics point to near-total dominance, the turnovers conceded are a concern, and could prove costly against higher-quality opposition.

“We still dropped balls, made poor passes and conceded too many penalties due to a lack of discipline – all things we need to cut from our game if we want to be effective against Italy. The ball protection at times was also not up to standard and our breakdown work needs to be better. We have good momentum, though, and will use that in our preparation in York this week,” De Bruin added.

Italy beat the Springbok Women 32-19 in their last encounter – a tightly contested WXV2 clash on 12 October 2024. All three of the South African try scorers that day – Yonela Ngxingolo, Aseza Hele and Ayanda Malinga – are part of the current World Cup squad. Hele netted a hat-trick of tries against Brazil, while Malinga bagged a brace.

Italy will be smarting from their 24-0 opening defeat by France in their first Pool D match. The Springbok Women cannot afford to give them a sniff of opportunity as they chase the win that will confirm their spot in the quarter-finals.

Italy head coach Fabio Roselli admitted his side must fix their set-piece issues after struggling in the lineout against France. With their 89% success rate in lineouts and scrums, it could be an area for South Africa to exploit on Sunday.