Koen backing his side to continue making big improvements

South Africa boss Louis Koen is backing his side to continue making big improvements despite opening their inaugural WXV campaign with a pair of defeats. 

The Springbok Women were beaten 36-18 by Italy in round two, following on from a 31-17 opening defeat to Scotland to leave them bottom of the WXV 2 standings with zero points.

But Koen is confident the defeats are all part of the process as the Springboks look to make the step up against more experienced opposition.

And the 48-year-old believes his side will only get better by facing the world’s best more regularly.

“All in all, I am very proud of their effort. I can’t fault their effort, they fought until the last seconds of the match,” said Koen.

“They won my heart with their performance, and I am sure they won South African hearts with their performance.

“You saw today what experience brings to the party. In the first 10-15 minutes, when it was fast and it was furious, our inexperienced backs could have made some better decisions but that will come with time.

“If I count all our caps together in the backline, I don’t think I will reach 30, so it is still a young backline.

“There were decisions that could have been executed better but they are learning and getting better and better every game.

“We need these competitions; we need to experience this. From week one to week two there is a huge amount of improvement.

“We are not too far off, more of these games and experiences will get us closer and closer.

“These girls that we played against, and the Scottish girls last week, they are going to go back and play a whole season of English Premiership Rugby, then they go to the Six Nations whereas we go on holiday and hope and pray we get something in March or April.

“It is evident tonight and last week that we need these games to go better. The more we play games the better we are going to get.”

Three first-half tries put Italy in control before the Azzurre turned the screw in the second period despite an improved defensive showing from the Boks.

An early yellow card for Veroeshka Grain and a red card for Aseza Hele after the break highlighted issues in the tackling department, but Koen was pleased with the way his side responded to their numerical disadvantage.

“We got a red card and a yellow card so there was a couple of discipline issues,” he added. “It is something we need to work on in terms of our level change and tackling lower.

“We are making progress in that department. In the second half I thought we were very good defensively, even with fewer girls.

“Some of these girls playing for us, this is their second experience of WXV and the pace is a bit quicker.

“As the game went on, they did well and we defended well. We will look at the footage and see where we can get better but all in all I am very proud.

“I am just very proud, immensely proud of how they fought with 13 girls on the field.”