Springboks Ladies ease past Rugby Lionesses in one-sided contest

• Defending champions South Africa extended their unbeaten run under Louis Koen
• It is the second competition in succession that Cameroon falls heavily against the Women’s Springbox of South Africa 
• The winner of the 2024 Africa Women’s Rugby championship qualifies for the world Cup next year in England 

South Africa’s Women’s Rugby team, the Springbok Women inflicted a 55-0 defeat on their Cameroonian counterpart this Saturday thanks to a second-half display. The Rugby Africa Women’s Cup opener in Madagascar ended up being a one way traffic, as the defending champions scored a whooping 36 points in the second half to win the clash by 55-0 (half-time 19-0) at Stade Makis in Antananarivo on Saturday afternoon.

South Africa entered the contest with memories of their heavy victory in the previous meeting of both nations and didn’t disappoint. In the strong winds of Antananarivo, the Bok Women could only score three maul tries in the first half, all by Lindelwa Gwala (hooker), but things opened up after the break and they added six more tries to their tally, with Maceala Samboya (left wing) grabbing a hat-trick in only 10 minutes.

With the South African pack setting the tone by overpowering their opponents in set-piece play, the second half replacements made a big impact as they opted to attack more with the ball in hand and found gaps in Cameroon’s defence.

All three South Africa’s tries in the first-half came from strong lineout drives, with Gwala the grateful recipient at the back of the mauls to score a hat-trick of tries.

The Bok Women’s changed side took some time to find their rhythm, but first-half injuries to Aliyah Tchogna-Njamen (prop) and Samantha Els (flanker) also disrupted the team in green and gold.

Though Cameroon frequently loose Gladys Magala (prop) to a yellow card late in the half, coach Louis Koen’s team failed to take advantage of this as they made too many unforced errors.

South Improved in the second-half. Lusanda Dumke (flanker) and Byrhandre Dolf (fullback) especially created a huge impact coming off the bench.

Vainah Ubisi, who replaced Els on the side of the scrum, scored a clever try six minutes into the half when she jogged over after taking a lineout on the Cameroon 5m line and realised her opponents hadn’t engaged in a maul.

Veroeshka Grain (outside centre) then added her name to the score sheet when the ball was sent wide from a scrum turnover, before Samboya did more damage as she found space on the left hand side of the field to score tries in the 55th, 59th and 65th minutes.

Eight minutes before the end, Aphiwe Ngwevu (replacement centre) celebrated her return to the squad for the first time this year with a try from a quick-tap penalty to make it 55-0.

Cameroon had one last go at the SA try-line, but the Bok Women’s defence held firm and they came away with a good victory.

Rumandi Potgieter (scrumhalf) had a good game behind a dominant pack, and Mary Zulu (flyhalf) deserves credit for her distribution and her kicking game too – both out of hand and at goal – where she converted five of the nine tries in very tricky conditions.

Scorers:

Springbok Women 55 (19) – Tries: Lindelwa Gwala (3), Vainah Ubisi, Veroeshka Grain, Maceala Samboya (3), Aphiwe Ngwevu. Conversions: Mary Zulu (5).

Cameroon 0

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