Springbok Women's coach Swys de Bruin set to ring the changes for France World Cup clash

Coach Swys de Bruin is set to make several changes to the Springbok Women’s side to face France in their final Women’s Rugby World Cup Pool D match in Northampton, England, on Sunday.

The Springbok Women emerged from their historic win over Italy last Sunday with a number of sore bodies — a result that saw them qualify for the quarter-finals of the showpiece event for the very first time.

A number of bench and fringe players could be handed a run against France, allowing many of the first-choice players some more recovery time ahead of a potential quarter-final clash against New Zealand or Ireland.

The winner of the Franklin’s Gardens clash between South Africa and France will face the team finishing second in Pool C. France are heavy favourites to win, but they may also rest a few stars with one eye on the knockout stage.

“We want to play against them with a particular tactic in mind, so the team will be tweaked accordingly. It would be silly to move away from our direct and physical approach that has worked so well in recent months, but we will freshen up the squad after three weeks on tour,” said Bok Women’s assistant coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt.

“The nice thing is that everyone is keen to go out and prove our performances are sustainable, and that the massive support we get from back home is justified and celebrated.”

The Black Ferns face Ireland in Brighton and Hove on Sunday. Both sides have secured maximum points from their first two games, but New Zealand (+89) hold the edge over Ireland (+44) on points difference and are likely to top the pool in the event of a draw.

However, Johannes-Haupt said they are not concerned about permutations or potential opponents in the quarters, as all remaining teams will be strong.

“That’s a week from now, but we certainly don’t mind who we play in the quarters, as the competition gets tougher the further you progress,” she said.

“We want to play the best. In this case, we are playing the number four side, and then a week later the number three or five in the world. That’s what we came for.”

Still, the Bok Women will go all out to secure a win over the French and build on the momentum gained from the win over Italy as they prepare for next week’s quarter-final.

“They are fourth in the world rankings and finished second in the Six Nations, and they have massive experience of tournaments like the World Cup,” said Johannes-Haupt.

“They are certainly as good as either of next week’s opponents, so this will be a good dress rehearsal for us.

“We trained against France on our tour in April, and that helped a lot, as the players could see some pictures and now know what to expect in certain areas of the game.

“It was just a training session, but we took a lot of positives from it. The good momentum we’ve gained over the last few months is an added incentive for us to go at them hard and with purpose.”