The Springbok Women produced a valiant performance, but ultimately slumped to a 33-26 defeat at the hands of the Wallaroos at Athlone Stadium on Saturday evening.
Near-perfect performance, wrong end of the result. That in short is how one could summarise the Springbok Women’s Test against the Wallaroos today.
Bar a few defensive lapses, this Springbok Women produced what could arguable be their best performance under tutelage of Swys de Bruin.
The players that stood out were centres Zintle Mpupha and Chumisa Qawe, who didn’t give an inch on defence, but took plenty on attack; as well as lock Vainah Ubisi and No 8 Aseza Hele.
Result not withstanding, De Bruin will be happy with how his charges went about their respective jobs today in pursuit in what could have been a major upset in world rugby.
MATCH RECAP: SPRINGBOK WOMEN VERSUS AUSTRALIAN WALLAROOS
Australia sped out to a 14-point lead courtesy of two quick-fire tries, but the hosts pulled one back when Unam Tose crossed for her maiden Test try.
Unfortunately, they not only failed to further close the gap, they failed to maintain it as moments later the Wallaroos dotted down for a third converted try to extend their advantage on the scoreboard.
But as the clock wound down, the Springbok Women dug deep and showed wonderful patience on attack in the lead-up to their second try to make it a nine-point game. Australia did cross the tryline on the stroke of half-time, but the try was ruled out for a knock-on after a superb cover tackle by Ayanda Malinga.
The second half was even more closely contested than the first as the Springbok managed to stem the flow of Australia’s line-breaks by tightening their defence.
The sides went blow for blow as they chalked up two more tries apiece, setting up a grandstand finish with the scores at 33-26.
And in those dramatic final moments with time on the clock, the Springbok Women worked their way downfield and came within inches of scoring what could potentially have been a match-tying try. But Australia showed all their experience and class to hold their nerve in the biggest moment right on the tryline and managed to win a turnover penalty to all but draw the curtain an a Test match classic.
DID YOU WATCH THE BOK WOMEN PLAY?
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