Brilliant Bok Women bury Barbarians in Cape Town
The Springbok Women started their WXV charge with a superb 59-17 victory over a star-studded Barbarians team on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town, scoring nine tries to three in the process.
It wasn't a flawless performance, but the South Africans deserve a lot of credit for the win in their first match under a new coaching staff of Swys de Bruin, Laurian Haupt-Johannes, Bafana Nhleko and Franzel September.
Last year the Barbarians were victorious by 38-26 at Athlone Stadium, and they beat the Bok Women by 60-5 in London in 2021. These results illustrate the Bok Women's growth and they can take a lot of confidence from Saturday's win.
The Bok Women started like a house on fire, perfectly executing their effective game plan based on forward dominance, with five first half tries, four of which were converted by Jakkie Cilliers.
They scored three tries in the opening quarter, all from attacking lineouts after set up by penalties won by the forwards.
First Lindelwa Gwala scored from a maul in the fourth minute, and six minutes later Vainah Ubisi crashed over after the drive was stopped just short, but South Africa quickly moved the ball wide to the exciting lock who scored.
A third attacking maul in the 16th minute was again stopped just short, but this time the Bok Women quickly moved the ball wide to Ayanda Malinga, who scored in the corner.
At this stage, the Barbarians could not get out of their own half, mainly due to the SA pack setting the tone, combined with great defence, but the visitors' experience came through and when they got the opportunity, Lydia Thompson struck with their first try in the 21st minute.
Cilliers came close to score a few minutes later, but instead the Bok wing was sin-binned for a high tackle earlier in the move, and not long thereafter, Thompson scored her second try as she exploited the lack of a defender on the outside.
At 19-10, the Barbarians started to gain some control, but the Bok Women were not done yet and two late converted tries by Aseza Hele and Sinazo Mcatshulwa, after a superb run by Chumisa Qawe, handed the momentum back to the home team as they went into the break leading by a comfortable 33-10.
The Barbarians had a better start to the second half and pulled one back 10 minutes after the break when Kendra Cocksedge went over after a mistake by the host team in their own half.
A few minutes later, Sizophila Solontsi was yellow-carded for a dangerous clean after a TMO referral, and the game started losing shape as the players tired.
The Bok Women bench made an impact though, and in the 67th minute, one of the replacements, Yonela Ngxingolo, scored a superb try from an angled run to hand the impetus back to South Africa, with Cilliers' conversion - her fifth from six attempts - made it 40-17.
The Baabaas lost a player to the bin for a dangerous tackle and the Bok Women didn't need a second invitation to make their numerical advantage count as Nadine Roos sliced through the defence for their seventh try, also converted by Cilliers.
Felicia Jacobs added her name to the score-sheet shortly thereafter with a runaway try in the corner, before Malinga's second sealed the deal for the South Africans, whose next clash is against Spain on Thursday, 19 September - their last opportunity to prepare for WXV 2, which kicks off against Japan on 27 September against Japan, also at DHL Stadium.
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