Barely four months ago, Aphiwe Ngwevu felt that her international rugby ambitions and playing career was going downhill fast – perhaps even over the cliff – despite earning 31 Test caps and scoring 13 tries in the green and gold.
Swys de Bruin rated the Springbok Women’s first half performance against the USA Eagles Women at Ellis Park as the best 40 minutes of rugby since he was appointed as head coach, but admitted that their second half effort fell short of the same standard in a match they won 34-21.
Babalwa Latsha, the most-capped Springbok Women tighthead prop, will not only anchor the South African scrum for the 41st time when they face the USA Eagles Women at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday, but she has also been named as team captain for the 2026 season.
The Springbok Women concluded another fruitful training day at St. John’s College in Johannesburg with a lot of focus on defence, an area Laurian Johannes-Haupt feels they need to dominate in their Test against USA Eagles at Ellis Park on Saturday.
There were a lot of positives, but as in any rugby match, things that did not go according to plan and will be a work-on before the Springbok Women’s next match in the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in Kenya.
The Springbok Women will leave nothing to chance and are determined to start the defence of their Rugby Africa Women’s Cup title on the strongest possible foot when they play Madagascar in the first round at the RFUEA Grounds in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday.
Anathi Qolo will lead the Springbok Women squad of 28 players to the 2026 edition of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in Nairobi, Kenya, with nine uncapped players included in the touring group who will look to defend the title South Africa won in Madagascar last year.
Springbok Women head coach Swys de Bruin has invited 10 uncapped players to the team’s first alignment camp of 2026, with 34 players set to congregate in Stellenbosch from 12 to 24 April.
Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx capped off a remarkable season by being crowned SA Rugby Player of the Year for 2025.
Nine former Springbok Women’s players were included on a list of 24 elite coaches who will form part of SA Rugby’s new Women Coaches’ Transitioning Workshop, a critical initiative designed to bridge the gender gap in elite coaching.