Springbok Women taught chastening lesson despite fightback in big loss to Canada

The Springbok Women were punished for a first-half display littered with mistakes and penalties by Canada, losing 50-20 at a sunny but cool Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.

The second-ranked Canadians punched holes in the South Africans' defence early on, putting the Bok Women on the back foot from the start.

That pressure told when Deleaka Menin stretched over the line despite the attentions of Babalwa Latsha after five minutes. Julia Schell added the extra two points.

The Springbok Women's pack was solid enough at scrum time, but lineout struggles proved costly. Hooker Micke Gunter struggled to find her jumpers throughout the half.

Unfortunately, an alarming error count at the breakdown also cost the South Africans. It also undid much of the good work by the forwards, who worked tirelessly to get go-forward ball. The likes of Latsha, Sizophila Solontsi and Aseza Hele were prominent in this regard.

The Bok Women were growing in confidence with 12 minutes played. A powerful SA scrum drove the Canadian pack backwards and they won a penalty in front of the posts. Winger Jakkie Cilliers banged it over to put the home team on the scoreboard. 

Fancy Bermudez scored Canada's second try after the ball was fed wide to the left from a quick feed off a Canada scrum, the skip pass and wraparound leading to an overlap. Schell missed the conversion, which rebounded off the post. 

Canada's rush defence was not giving the Bok backline time on the ball, with the South African wings hardly involved in the attacking play after 20 minutes. The usually lethal fullback Nadine Roos and flyhalf Libbie Janse van Rensburg were starved of the ball. This denied the Bok Women an important exit avenue and spark to their attack.

The visitors wasted little time in slinging the ball wide, exposing the Bok Women's narrow defence. They also spread their cover defence quickly, leaving little space in the wide channels for the likes of SA speedster Ayanda Malinga to exploit.

Scrumhalf Olivia Apps and centre Alexandra Tessier were instrumental in dictating play for Canada.

A Laetitia Symonds try for Canada extended their lead to 17-3. With 10 minutes to go until half-time, the South African penalty count was mounting worryingly, especially at the breakdown.

Canada's next try was a real sucker punch, with the SA defence caught napping as they stood and watched as loose forward Laetitia Royer canter in to dot down unchallenged. A Flo Symonds five-pointer added to SA's woes. 

The score was 26-3 at the break.

The SA team seemed determined to play more on the front foot in the second stanza, with Cilliers and Roos starting to get their hands on the ball. The result was more line breaks and interplay between backs and forwards. 

A brilliant Solontsi break and feed on the right wing set Cilliers away and she out-sprinted  the Canadian defence for the Bok Women's first try of the match, which she converted. 

But Canada hit back straight away through Alicia Corrigan, who ripped the ball out of SA hands and pounced on the loose ball near the SA try line.

Even the error and penalty count was lower than the first stanza as the Springbok Women enjoyed arguably their best period of the match. 

But Corrigan got her second try in the far right corner for Canada after the SA defence once again got sucked in.

There was a moment of brilliance from the Bok Women when the ball was shifted wide at pace off a solid scrum and replacement back Byrhandrè Dolf burst down the right wing to score after 60 minutes.

The visibly flagging visitors were the ones making the mistakes as the Bok Women turned the screws. A powerful rolling maul by the home team proved unstoppable and a delighted Solontsi dotted down to make the score 38-20.

The Canadians, however, finished strongly with another Symonds try as the clock ticked down. A Caroline Crossley intercept and converted try just before the hooter was the final nail in the coffin as the match finished 50-20.

Scorers:

Springbok Women 20 (3) – Tries: Cilliers, Dolf, Solontsi. Conversion: Cilliers. Penalty: Cilliers.

Canada 50 (26) – Tries: Menin, Bermudez, Symonds (2), Royer, Corrigan (2), Crossley. Conversions: Schell (5).