There are a number of objectives for the Springbok Women to reach when they face an England age-group team at Marcoussis in France on Saturday, but for Eloise Webb the most important job on the day would be to stick with structures and implement a good week of learning into the game.
Webb will lead the Bok Women against an England made up of mostly U20 and some U23 players, but the South Africans are expecting a similar skill set from their opponents in Saturday, when compared to their senior side, ranked first in the world.
“The (senior) England side are very skillful and we expect the younger group to have many of those traits, including an ability to identify space early on,” said Webb.
“That will be our biggest challenge tomorrow from a defensive point of view, to close those spaces and keep our defensive system in place. Should we be able to do so, that will be a huge benefit gained from the match.”
The Springbok Women have spent a week at the French National Rugby Centre in Marcoussis and on Tuesday played a couple of chukkas and had a training session with the French national team, which Webb reckons boosted their confidence.
“We did some good things against them and our systems were tested by them,” she said. “We tweaked some aspects after the reviews we did following that and for the last two days, implemented that on the field.
“The team responded well, so this game against England will yet again provide a test to those tweaked systems. I am pretty confident that things will go well. We had a good captain’s run today and everyone is pretty excited to play, said the first time captain.
“It was a big surprise when coach Laurian (Johannes-Haupt) called out my name as captain and I feel really honoured to lead the team in this match. Luckily I have two very capable vice-captains in Danelle (Lochner) and Anathi (Qolo), and they will make my job easier. We also have some very experienced players on the field, so I am confident that things will go well.”
The Bok Women will travel to Spain on Sunday for a test match against the hosts in Alicante next Saturday, but there is no chance that they will have one foot on the plane already.
“We all want to play in that test match, but it is one game at at time, as it will be at the Rugby World Cup in England later this year,” said Webb.
“So the focus will be on England, what they will bring and how they will test our attack and defence. And of course, how we react to those.”
Both teams will use rolling substitutions and only four players – Babalwa Latsha, Lindelwa Gwala, Nolusindiso Booi and Sizophila Solontsi – will not play in the match, expected to be played in warm conditions. Kick-off is at 13h30.
TEAM
15. Byrhandre Dolf
14. Jakkie Cilliers
13. Eloise Webb (captain)
12. Aphiwe Ngwevu
11. Maceala Samboya
10. Mary Zulu
9. Alicia Willemse
8. Aseza Hele
7. Lerato Makua
6. Faith Tshauke
5. Nomsa Mokwai
4. Danelle Lochner (vice-captain)
3. Azisa Mkiva
2. Luchell Hanekom
1. Yonela Ngxingolo
REPLACMENTS (FROM): Xolelwa Diliza, Nombuyekeso Mdliki, Sanelisiwe Charlie, Anathi Qolo (vice-captain), Sinazo Mcatshulwa, Chatha Jacobs, Unam Tose, Tayla Kinsey, Libbie Janse van Rensburg, Chumisa Qawe.