Springbok Women on the right track despite USA defeat, says De Bruin

The Springbok Women opened the series with victory before the USA bounced back in Pretoria, leaving the teams with one win apiece. Despite the disappointing result, De Bruin said he was encouraged by the progress his squad had made during the series and believes it provides a solid platform for the remainder of the 2026 season.

"If you asked me two months ago if I will accept a drawn series, I would have taken it," said De Bruin.

"After today, where we did not play our best rugby, I am still pleased with the progress. We were one try away from drawing the match and the fightback we showed was very pleasing."

De Bruin said he was frustrated at the results around the breakdown, where they were often penalised.

"I will have a good look what went wrong there. Maybe our support players did not arrive in time or maybe they got lucky, but the bottom line was that it robbed us of momentum and we just could not get going. It was frustrating, but it is something we can fix."

According to the Bok Women coach, the players were not taking the defeat well, as it should be.

"The days of us accepting defeat are gone and I love that attitude," he said.

"We are now taking on the big teams and matches against them are a real arm wrestle. Look back at a year ago when Canada rolled us over here at Loftus. The progress is real and we can feel it."

The low of defeat after last weekend's win will also make the team stronger, he feels.

"We have some tough matches for the rest of the year and we will have to dig deep," said De Bruin.

"What I know about our team after these two matches is that their fight is real and they refuse to give up. The fact that we scored three very good tries was also very pleasing."

Bok Women Babalwa Latsha said that although the execution on the day was not their best, the reality of playing on the big stage has been embraced by all.

"We certainly are on an upward curve since the Women's Rugby World Cup and we are starting to believe," said Latsha.

"We have no plans to go back to the team of old, we are here and we are real. Today's result was marginal and we showed over the last two weeks that can compete with the top sides in the world."

The squad will have a short rest before they will return to their Stellenbosch base to prepare for a two-Test tour to Fiji in August.