There’s less than a year to go until the best women’s rugby teams in the world gather in England for Rugby World Cup 2025, with the hosts and USA meeting in the opening match on 22 August in Sunderland.
The competition take place over six weekends between 22 August and 27 September, with teams getting at least six rest days between pool matches. It is made up of four pools of four teams each, with the top two teams going through to the quarter finals.
The Springbok Women, currently ranked 12th in the world, qualified for RWC 2025 earlier this year as the result of once again winning the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, and have been drawn in pool D, alongside France, Italy, and Brazil. Given the recent focus on women’s rugby in South Africa, and the team’s continued growth, they will certainly be targeting a far better World Cup performance than they had in RWC 2021 (played in 2022 due to COVID-19). During that tournament, they failed to win any of their matches, despite coming very close against Fiji, and finished last in a tough pool that featured the eventual silver and bronze medallists, England and France. A lot has happened since then, and the team is currently thriving with recently-appointed coach Swys de Bruin at the helm, alongside assistant coaches Lungisa Kama and Eddie Myners. They’ll be pleased with their spot in pool D, and it would not be unreasonable for them to expect to make the knockouts.
Let’s take a look at their schedule:
South Africa v Brazil, 24 August 2025 at 15:45 (SA time), Franklin's Gardens, Northampton.
The Springbok Women will kick off their campaign against World Cup debutants, Brazil. Not only is this Brazil’s first World Cup, they’re also the first South American women’s team to ever qualify. They will desperately want a win, and will likely target this game as their best chance of getting one. It should be a fairly slim chance though, and would definitely be considered an upset if they got it right. Currently ranked 42nd in the world, the Brazilian women played their first Test in 2008, and then didn’t play another international until 2019. To date, they have only played ten such matches, losing all but two of them. Those two victories came against Portugal in 2023 and Colombia in 2024. It was the latter victory which saw them qualify for RWC 2025, and they will certainly feel as if they are improving. This should be a bridge too far for them, though, and the Springbok Women will want to win this one comfortably to get their tournament off to a good start.
South Africa v Italy, 31 August 2025 at 16:30 (SA time), York Community Stadium, York
This is a crucial game for the Springbok Women. They have played Italy, currently ranked 8th in the world, on three previous occasions, and have yet to win a game against them. There was, however, a marked improvement in their performance against the Italians in the 2024 WXV 2 competition. While the Springbok Women lost 35-10 and 36-18 to them in 2018 and 2023 respectively, that recent game came down to the wire. Italy ultimately walked away with a 23-19 victory, but for those of us who watched the game, it really did feel as if it could have gone either way, and the Springbok Women will be looking to build on that next year.
While the Springbok Women will introduce central contracts for the first time in 2025, Italy has had part-time contracts in place since 2022. Their participation in the Women’s Six Nations, in which their best result came in 2019 with a second place finish, also gives them more exposure to playing against top level teams than the Springbok Women are getting playing in the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup. They are by no means going to be a walk over. But if the Springbok Women want to make it through to the knockouts, they will need to win this game. Discipline will be the key work on here, as they were competitive in most facets of their last game against Italy, and completely dominant in the scrums. Definitely doable.
South Africa v France, 7 September 2025, 17:45 (SA time), Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
The Springbok Women wrap up the pool stages with their toughest match. France is a fully professional side, and have come third in seven out of the nine World Cups they have played in, including RWC 2021. They are currently ranked 4th in the world, and finished second in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women’s Six Nations. The Springbok Women have played them on five previous occasions, and have drawn once, in 2009, and lost four times. The most recent of these defeats was at RWC 2021 (40-5).
There’s no question that the French are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to women’s rugby. This is a game that the Springbok Women will need to be at their very best for, should they wish to pull off an upset. Hopefully they will be injury-free after the two previous games, and be able to select their strongest team for this massive clash. A victory against France will be nothing short of legendary for them. If, however, they fall short at this hurdle, the importance of winning those first two games will be brought home – France is likely to top the pool, assuming their other results go as expected, but if the Springbok Women beat Brazil and Italy, they have every chance of finishing second, and going through to the quarter finals.
Details of warm up matches for next year are still being finalised, but the coaching staff are pleased with where the team is at after this year’s preparations. With revitalised support, and the steps being taken to professionalise women’s rugby in South Africa in 2025, hopefully we can look forward to the Springbok Women’s most competitive World Cup yet!
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