Women Boks can crack top five in the world by next decade: Babalwa Latsha

Babalwa Latsha, the first African women’s rugby player to turn professional, has predicted the Springbok women’s team will crack the top five of the Women’s World Rugby ranks in the coming decade. 

Latsha was commenting after the women’s game in South Africa received a huge boost at the weekend when the Springboks qualified for the 2025 World Cup in England after winning the Africa Cup. 

It will be South Africa's fourth outing to the global showpiece since the team was formed in 2004.

From being ranked 26th in the world 20 years ago, to now being 12th, the Springboks have vastly improved their game. 

With more resources pumped into the women’s domestic circuit,  Latsha believes in the next decade they will be shoulder to shoulder with the best teams in the world. 

The Bok prop plies her trade for England’s Harlequins. 

In the past two years or so, South African women’s rugby has taken a shift from being amateur to professional.

The Blue Bulls Company contracted 35 women in 2023 for the next two seasons.

That made the Tshwane-based Bulls Daisies the first women’s team in the history of South African rugby to be offered professional contracts.

With talks regarding the formation of a women’s United Rugby Championship ongoing,  CEO Martin Anayi indicated this might occur in the next five years.

Teams such as the Sharks, Lions and Stormers are then likely to follow in the trail of the Bulls. 

With these developments, 30-year-old Latsha forecasts a huge turnaround for the Springbok women’s team in the world rankings. 

“In the next five or 10 years, we will either be in the top 10 or competing for the top five nations.

“We will be competing heavily in World Cups,” Khayelitsha-born Latsha said. 

“There are so many young girls taking up the sport and the popularity is increasing immensely.

Realistically, in our assessment of the last World Cup, we were knocked out of the pool stages — we want to make an improvement on that. World Cups are not won in a singular four-year cycle or even in two cycles sometimes, it’s a long-term process for us.

—  Babalwa Latsha

“And that is a win for the country because it means there is a new generation coming up and hungry to play for the Springbok women because they see it’s possible.

“Whereas in the past, there were not many women playing the sport, which made it harder to attract more players.

“The focus should be on the potential we have in the lower ranks, with that we can build more going forward and even surpass what we have already built,” she said. 

At present,  England, New Zealand, Canada, France, Australia, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Ireland and the US occupy the top 10 rankings.

The Springboks were knocked out of the pool stages in the last World Cup edition in 2021.

“Realistically, in our assessment of the last World Cup, we were knocked out of the pool stages — we want to make an improvement on that.

“World Cups are not won in a singular four-year cycle or even in two cycles sometimes, it’s a long-term process for us.

“We have to make sure we have the right people in the room going to next year’s competition. And I believe we have the right set of players,” she said.