French connection has Springbok Women coaches smiling

There were smiles all around for the Springbok Women after a productive hit-out with their French counterparts on Tuesday afternoon in Marcoussis, and according to assistant coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt the squad will benefit greatly from the training session heading towards the Rugby World Cup in August.

“This was a good day for us – we trained against one of the top four teams in the world and it really went well for us,” said Johannes-Haupt.

“They are well underway in their Women’s Six Nations campaign while we are only starting our season, so we expected to have issues with the pace and intensity of the sessions, but we did not and that was a massive plus to the coaches, as it pointed to a positive trajection for the squad.

“We had a unit session against them in the morning where we could test our scrums and lineouts while the backs could play their starter moves and them moved on to match scenarios where we also did well.”

The fact that some of their least experience players could also get a run against France – who play Wales in Brive in the Six Nations on Saturday – was a plus as those players gained valuable experience against the hosts.

“That was a bonus – we had 29 players getting the opportunity to feel what rugby at the level the French play at it is about and all will benefit from that,” she said.

“Also, we have another opportunity on Saturday when we play a match against an England side consisting of U20 and U23 players, where those who did not play that much today, will get a chance to have a full go.”

The expected benchmark set by the French was not unassailable, according to Johannes-Haupt: “We did well and that was a very pleasing aspect for us to be able to compete against an undefeated team in the Six Nations. They are one of our opponents at the Rugby World Cup as well, so in that regard, we were grateful to them for affording us the opportunity.

“The players really enjoyed this opportunity. We will now do a full review of the sessions and then came back looking for further improvement on Saturday in the match against England.”

The Bok Women tour squad will travel to Spain on Sunday for a test against the host nation in Alicante on 19 April.