Bok Women to expand options against Black Ferns XV

Expect more of the same, but also the unexpected when the Springbok Women take on the Black Ferns XV at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, in the first of two international friendlies between the hosts and their New Zealand visitors.

According to Springbok Women assistant coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt, they will still try to dominate in their usual areas of the set piece like the scrums – where South Africa enjoyed a 100 per cent completion rate against Canada and earned two penalties on the opponents ball in Gqeberha – but they are also expanding their playing style to other areas of the game and for Saturday, most notably, the breakdown.

“We are still looking to maintain our strike rate come scrum time, but we are also looking at more tweaks as we develop our game,” the Bok Women scrum coach explained.

“We have a great attacking mindset in Swys de Bruin and his abilities to create attacking opportunities are respected the world over, so we would be silly not to tap into that. Hence, with our team we selected for this weekend and hoping to be more versatile in our option taking when we have the ball, we are definitely not going there to just scrum and maul.”

#BokWomen have clear objectives for #BlackFernsXV clash. More here.. https://t.co/5fikFJ5RPo#PlusOne @FNBSA @PicknPay pic.twitter.com/WHufnnp3Vp

— SA Women's Rugby (@WomenBoks) July 22, 2025

An area they have worked on this week was their breakdown, Johannes-Haupt explained: “That is an area where we would like to be dominant too, not only the set piece. We have some hard runners and if we attack and execute the breakdown with vigour, we will be able to generate good ball and we will be able to attack with more freedom.”

Having played against the Black Ferns at the 2010 Rugby World Cup, to being a liaison officer for the New Zealand’s women’s team at the HSBC SVNS in Cape Town, Johannes-Haupt, has a good understanding of what the visitors’ mindset will be on Saturday.

“There will be very little difference in the mindset, execution and skill set between the New Zealand squad selected for the Rugby World Cup and this Black Ferns XV team,” she said.

“They have been playing rugby for generations and grew up with a rugby culture that suits their strengths. They are so skilful and their ability to attack from all over brought them many successes.”

South Africa’s ability to dominate the collisions will put the visitors under pressure though and if they are successful in that regard, their job will be much easier, Johannes-Haupt said.

“We welcome this opportunity to be tested by such a good team, but also to see how we can improve and grow in our vision to become a top side in the world,” she said.