Springbok Women assistant coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt. Photo: SA Rugby
Image: SA Rugby
Springbok Women's scrum coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt feels that their powerful set-piece could once again lay the platform for a dominant performance in the Test against Spain in Elche on Saturday.
The Springbok Women have established themselves as a formidable set-piece team with good success in converting their dominance in those areas into points. There was no reason to depart from that script South Africa’s first Test of the year, Johannes-Haupt suggested on Tuesday.
She will have been buoyed by another good training session at the team’s base at the Bonalba Golf Resort in Alicante, where there was a lot of focus on scrumming and mauling options for the team.
The Springbok Women (12th with 66.18 World Rugby ranking points) open their international season against Spain (13th with 65.59 points) on Saturday and for Johannes-Haupt, that could play a role in their approach.
“(Spain) have been together for five weeks now and had four wins so far, so their improvement is real,” said Johannes-Haupt.
“They will come in well prepared, while we are only starting our season. That said, we have had several camps back home where we worked on a few aspects and variety in our game, and we would like to implement that.”
The Bok Women’s scrum power is no secret and for Johannes-Haupt not something they are moving away from soon, saying: “We want to perfect what we are good at.”
The fact that the forward pack in the touring squad is dominated by Bulls Daisies players only bodes well for the Bok Women's ambitions. The Daisies forwards swept all before them in the Women's Premier Division recently, setting the tone for a third title in a row.
They will go into the Test match brimming with confidence that should spill over to their teammates.
The two sides met twice last year, once in Valladolid and once in Cape Town, with the Springbok Women enjoying 94% success rate in scrums on their own feed to Spain's 74%. The South Africans also won 25 of 28 line-outs, while Spain won nine from 14.
The Boks scored eight tries in those two matches – three of which were from mauls and two from scrums – while Spain scored five, with only one from a line-out and one from a scrum. It resulted in the Boks winning both matches 15-13 and 36-19, respectively.
“We are certainly a set-piece team, and we want to remain prominent and dominant in that area, but we also want to spice it up and add more to our play than just scrums and mauls, as successful as it is for us,” she said.
“This match will be about a solid foundation, and we will target the set piece, but more so because we want to give the backs ball to run with. If we provide the platforms for them to launch from, they will have ample opportunity to finish.
“I feel our defence has been reliable as well and we are working to add some attacking flair to our effort.”
The Springbok Women matchday 23 to face Spain on Saturday will be named on Wednesday.
