This evening the Springbok Women face their final pool match against Ireland in the 2006 IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup, with a first World Cup match win still going a-begging.
SA’s final match is against Ireland, possibly the most vulnerable of the Springbok’s pool stage opponents.
The Boks’ first two matches ended in flattering score sheets for the opposition, first a 68-12 defeat at the hands of Australia, followed by a 74-8 loss to England.
The upside of this evening’s match is that Ireland has also conceded two losses in their pool matches against France (43-0), and the USA (11-24).
Though SA has conceded many more points in their first two games, this was against two experienced sides, while Ireland has only had to face titans France so far.
In addition, SA has outscored Ireland by 9 points to date. Prospects have not been better for the girls to reward coach David Dobela with an impressive win.
SA still has a theoretical though unlikely chance of gaining a final top-four finishing position, provided they beat Ireland with a bonus-point win, and the current 122 points-for/points-against deficit is substantially redressed.
Naturally, the same result could arise if one of the other worst-performing nations suffer a big defeat in their final game.
This may be the case for any of Kazakhstan against hosts Canada, Spain against Samoa, or the USA against Australia.
The Springboks will be under no illusions as to what Ireland expect, with Ireland Coach Phillip Doyle predicting the Boks will be easy meat.
“…, but the South Africans are there for the taking, let’s hope for some of that famous Irish luck”, said Doyle after their loss to the USA.
In the tournament’s two top-of-the-log matches, heavyweights 4th-placed England take on second-placed France, while log-leaders and defending champions New Zealand play third-placed Scotland, also on 10 points.
After this evening’s clashes end the pool stage, two more matches await each team in the knock-out rounds for final placings.
Springbok coach David Dobela’s wishes for a final 6th-place ranking are still achievable, but the girls will have to grit out a tough match tonight while scoring freely to stay in the race.
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