Sporting Action - What Happens To Us, Happens For Us

One Small Step For Bok Women Stars, One Giant Leap For Women's Rugby

By Koketso Mamabolo

Women’s captain Nolusindiso Booi made her first test appearance the landscape of the women’s game looked a lot different. While the men’s game had gone professional years before, after the 1995 World Cup - when South Africa, Australia and New Zealand’s governing bodies joined forces with Rupert Murdoch’s FOX Sports to usher in a new era for the sport - the women’s game was still establishing itself in the world of sport.

Now, 49 test caps later, Nolusindiso, a tough, tireless lock-forward, is not only the most-capped Springbok Women’s player ever, but also a veteran whose career has matured during an inflection point in the sport’s trajectory. One of the most noticeable developments at this year’s Summer Olympics was the throng of people who flooded into the Stade de France stadium to watch the men’s and women’s rugby sevens event. The stars of the women’s game gave a performance of lifetime and the response of the fans, sponsors and broadcasters signalled the start of the future.

At the moment, England and New Zealand sit at the top of the women’s game and run the only professionalised leagues but that is set to change with SA Rugby announcing plans for the Women’s Super League, kicking off early next year.

The league will feature a contract model which will see around 150 players centrally-contracted to SA Rugby, more than doubling the number of fulltime professional players, with the Bulls Daisies, two years later, still being the only side in the country with a full squad of professionals. Five teams will compete in the league, with the 14 unions in the country having to bid for a spot and the 150 players being distributed among the five selected teams.

“We saw the impact of the women’s sevens event at the Olympics and every measurement available points only to the growth of women’s sport and women’s rugby and the world,” said SA Rugby President Mark Alexander, following the announcement of the Super League on Women’s Day.

This is an important step towards SA Rugby’s goal of making into the top 8 on the World Rugby rankings, with the Springbok Women currently sitting at 12th. Nolusindo and others will join the professional ranks alongside players from the Bulls Daisies and overseas-based players like tighthead prop Babalwa Latsha, who became SA’s first professional player when she signed for Spanish side SD Eibar Femenino in 2020.

She is one of four South African internationals plying their trade full-time in the English Premier Women Division, which she considers to be the best league in the world. Latsha, powerful ball-carrier Aseza Hele and Danelle Lochner have flourished in the Harlequins Women setup, and have made a name for themselves along with Springbok teammates Catha Jacobs (Leicester Tigers) and Lindelwa Gwala (Ealing Trailfinders).

Making Progress

In the WXV2 series, which was held recently in Cape Town and featured teams in the second tier of women’s rugby, (England, New Zealand and France dominate the WXV1) the impact of having professionals in the national setup was clear, with the Springbok Women, with a new-look coaching staff, making significant strides in their evolutionary journey.

While the Springboks are giants on the African continent, winning every edition of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup since it started in 2019, overcoming teams from other parts of the world has been a constant challenge which Swys de Bruin, the performance coach appointed to guide the transformation of the side’s fortunes, is looking to make a thing of the past.

De Bruin - the legendary teacher turned coach, who is a former consultant for the Springbok Men, and who served as an excellent assistant coach for Johann Ackerman during the Lions Men’s Super Rugby purple patch almost a decade ago - had been in retirement for five years when SA Rugby’s High-Performance Director, Dave Wessels, asked him to the join team until after next year’s World Cup, after which he’ll mentor young coaches in the SA Rugby system.

Joined by former Junior Springbok Men’s head coach Bafana Nhleko (defence coach), Franzel September (forwards coach) and Laurian JohannesHaupt (scrum coach), de Bruin’s fingerprints were already on display in wins against Spain and the Barbarians, an invitational side, with de Bruin’s expansive attacking approach blending nicely with the traditional, abrasive approach which hasn’t always been a hallmark of his gameplans in the past.

The Springboks only managed one win in their three WXV2 games but were one converted try from a draw with 7th (and now 5th) ranked Australia and an unconverted try away from beating Italy, who have gone up to the 8th on the world rankings. The Bulls Daisies made up the bulk of de Bruin’s matchday squads, with the four overseas based players bolstering the team and showing the fruits of professionalism.

De Bruin noted that in the Boks’ three previous encounters with Australia’s Wallaroos they had failed to score a try but have reached a point where both teams looked like they could win it in the closing stages of the match,

Former Junior Bok and current Bulls Daisies lock Vainah Ubisi continued her dominance in the engine room, Aseza Hele was a wrecking ball as always, Latsha showed her growth as the anchor of the dominant scrum and despite struggling on the fringes of the defence, wing turned flyhalf Nadine Roos showed why the coaches have moved her closer to the action, and expertly marshalled the troops with scrumhalves Unam Tose (Bulls Daisies) and Tayla Kinsey (Sharks).

With the international season now over for the Springboks, and the next training camp planned for December, attention now turns to the lead up to next year’s Women’s World, which South Africa qualified for as the top side in Africa. If the progress continues, the Springboks could find themselves as serious contenders for the sport’s most coveted accolade, something which probably felt like a distant dream when Nolusindo made her debut 14 years ago.

Many of the Springbok Women’s did not grow up playing rugby, and had a late start of excelling in other sports such as cricket, athletics and netball before transitioning to the contact sport. The Bulls Daisies’ professional era is just the start and Babalwa Latsha will go down as a pioneer in the local game - showing young girls what’s possible on the biggest stages like the WXV series and the 2025 Rugby World Cup. “For us representation is really important,” said Latsha, in an interview with Rugby Pass. “I believe that you can’t be what you can’t see. It’s a great platform to see us and to see themselves in us.

“To see us represent them, and hopefully, they will or can aspire to do the same and even better. For us, it’s a massive privilege to have that much of an influence and to be able to do what we love in our home country. Hopefully it will help inspire a brand new generation of young women.”

“Whatever happens to us, happens for us,” is the motto in the camp. The success of Booi, Latsha and co is something that is happening for us.

What's On in October & November

Cricket:

Bangladesh vs Proteas Test series - First Test Match 21 - 25 October, Second Test Match 29 October - 2 November

Proteas vs India T20 Series - First T20 8 November, Second T20 10 November, Third Test 13 November, Fourth T20 15 November

Golf:

Genesis Championship - DP World Tour 24 - 27 October, Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship 7 - 10 November

Rugby:

Scotland vs Springboks 10 November

England vs Springboks 16 November

Wales vs Springboks 23 November

USA Grand Prix:

20 October

Cycling:

Tour of Guangxi - UCI World Tour 15 - 20 October

Sources: Supersport | SA Rugby | Cape Times | Business Day | Daily Maverick | Rugby Pass | Ruggas