The new World Rugby WXV tournament is set to be a game-changer for the Springbok women's team and women’s rugby in South Africa.
The first annual women’s international 15s three-tier competition will start next month with South Africa hosting the WXV 2 matches in Stellenbosch and Cape Town from October 13 to 28.
WXV 1 will be hosted by New Zealand, while the United Arab Emirates will roll out the red carpet for the WXV 3 matches, with each tier made up of six teams.
The 18-team tournament is aimed at revolutionising the women’s international rugby landscape, providing for the first time a meaningful pathway and competitive springboard for all unions towards an expanded 16-team Rugby World Cup in 2025 by the sport's mother body.
Springbok women’s interim coach Louis Koen, who is in a training camp with 34 players in Potchefstroom, believes this is what South Africa need to be able to close the gap between themselves and the top nations.
“I say this is absolutely gold for us,” Koen said. “It’s needed and will definitely help the girls.”
While the women's Boks are a powerhouse in Africa, they have always been exposed when making the step up to the world stage. That was the case when they lost all three group stage matches against France, Fiji and England in last year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
Koen believes the number of competitive games against strong opponents is what has always been the difference between South Africa, who are ranked 12th, and their opponents, some of whom have professional leagues at home.
“We must not beat around the bush. As South Africa we are in a difficult situation because the European teams ... have the opportunity every year to play in the Six Nations. That gives them six to eight competitive games over February, March, April, because they get to play warm-ups before the tournament,” Koen said.
“We as a country don’t have any international rugby during that timeframe. And now World Rugby, with this initiative, has given us a lifeline to play against wonderful opposition and get to see where we really are and what we need to work.
“Being exposed to more competitions is going to be key for us, because we don’t play enough international rugby.”
In WXV 2, South Africa have been grouped with the US, Scotland, Italy and Samoa. Koen’s charges will face Scotland, Italy and Samoa. The matches will be played at Danie Craven and Athlone stadiums.
The tournament will be subject to the relegation and promotion system at the end of each season, but there will be no promotion or relegation in the first cycle of WXV 1.
Koen emphasised the need for more rugby franchises in South Africa to follow in the footsteps of the Bulls, who became the first side in the country to contract women rugby players as professionals.
“The rugby landscape has seen what happens if a women’s team goes professional with the Bulls being the first professional team in South Africa,” he said.
“You could literally see the girls in a matter of months improved by a huge margin because they were able to be in a professional set-up where you live, breathe, sleep and eat rugby.
“With more of our women playing overseas, more exposed to these high-performance environments, I believe once we [also] get to four or five professional teams in South Africa ... I want to stay humble, but I also want to say we will be a real force to deal in world rugby.”
To help with their preparations for the tournament, the Boks played the first of their three warm-up Test matches against Kenya, who are in WXV 3, on Saturday. South Africa won 77-12 at the University of the Western Cape.
The Boks will face a star-studded Barbarians women at Athlone Stadium on Saturday. They wrap up their preparations with a clash against Samoa at Boland Stadium on October 7.
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