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Springboks Women drawn in tough World Cup group with England‚ France and Fiji

Springbok Women's coach Stanley Raubenheimer during the South African national women's rugby team training session at Markotter Stadium on June 13, 2019 in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Springbok Women's coach Stanley Raubenheimer during the South African national women's rugby team training session at Markotter Stadium on June 13, 2019 in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Image: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

The Springbok Women have been drawn with England‚ France and debutantes Fiji in Pool C of the 2021 Rugby World Cup to take place in New Zealand between September and October next year.

The tournament‚ which will play out in Auckland and Whangarei‚ marks the first women’s Rugby World Cup in the southern hemisphere and has three pools of four teams.

Defending champions New Zealand were drawn in Pool A and will do battle with Australia‚ Wales and the winner of the qualifier between Kenya and Columbia next year.

Reacting to the pool draw‚ Springbok Women’s coach Stanley Raubenheimer said his charges had to be prepared to be tested in New Zealand but they are looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s a tough pool but we always knew it would be‚” said Raubenheimer.

“You have to play against two of the top six teams and in our case‚ we have England and France. England were runners up in the last World Cup and France were bronze medalists‚ but that is the reality of playing on this stage‚ and hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves.”

With the tournament kicking off in less than 10 months‚ Raubenheimer said good preparation and analysis of their opposition would be vital to ensure that the team is as ready as they can be when they depart for the land of the long white cloud.

“We will zoom into the opposition more going forward‚ which is a positive because before the draw we had to look at all of the teams. We will also look specifically at what we need to do and what we can be better at‚ but that said the biggest focus is on ourselves.

“We need to give a good account of ourselves‚ and we know now who we need to prepare for. Watching the draw gave us a sense of nervous excitement‚ but we can really focus on what we need to do now.”

The 2021 Rugby World Cup will mark the third time the Springbok Women face France in the pool stages of the showpiece after crossing paths with them in the 2014 and 2006 tournaments but it will be the first time they meet England and Fiji.

2021 Rugby World Cup pools: Pool A: New Zealand‚ Australia‚ Wales‚ Final Qualifier winner Pool B: Canada‚ USA‚ Asia 1‚ Europe 1 Pool C: England‚ France‚ South Africa‚ Fiji