Springbok Women find credibility in defeat as Johannes-Haupt backs new coaching setup

The Springbok Women were beaten 52-20 by the Black Ferns at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday, but co-coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt left the curtain-raiser to Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry’s third Test encouraged rather than deflated.

For the opening half-hour, South Africa matched New Zealand physically, their forward pack posing repeated questions to Whitney Hansen’s side. The Black Ferns eventually pulled clear to lead 24-10 at the break, and the gap widened in the second half — yet the performance still drew a measured verdict from the coaching staff.

“I think we have established our credibility, especially in elements like our scrumming and forward play,” Johannes-Haupt said. “We pride ourselves on our scrum, and today it was very powerful again. We are tweaking our play here and there as we want to keep evolving, and as we saw today, not everything worked perfectly. However, we are happy with where we are now, and we will leave on our tour to Europe with good confidence.”

The result fell short of South Africa’s Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 showing against the same opponents, when the Springboks went into half-time level with the Black Ferns — a benchmark that underlines how much the rivalry has tightened in recent years.

Johannes-Haupt also confirmed that the current co-coaching arrangement will remain in place for the upcoming WXV Global Series. The structure was thrust into place last week when Swys de Bruin unexpectedly departed as head coach ahead of the Soweto fixture. Johannes-Haupt and Franzel September were swiftly appointed co-coaches, a pairing that had already guided the team through the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup and a two-match tour against Fiji earlier this year.

To bolster the setup, Junior Boks assistant coach Melusi Mthethwa has been brought in. The 40-year-old served as attack coach under Kevin Foote as South Africa’s Under-20s claimed back-to-back World Rugby Junior World Championship titles over the past two seasons.

“For now, we will stay the way we are,” Johannes-Haupt said. “Coach Melusi will still be part of us. His energy has been amazing. He brings a different perspective of how he does attack. We’ve had coach Swys as our attacking coach, and he was brilliant as well, so this is just another variation of how we want to play.”

South Africa’s autumn schedule offers further chances to build on that credibility. In September they face Wales and Italy before a WXV Global Series crossover fixture against Spain in Seville. October brings back-to-back home Tests against Ireland.