Ken Borland

South Africa were unable to marry their stellar defensive efforts with an attacking edge in the Women’s Hockey World Cup over the weekend, with defeats to Germany and Ireland in Amstelveen condemning them to the playoffs for 13^th-16^th spot.

Taking on powerhouses Germany for a place in the quarterfinals, goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande led an amazing defensive effort that saw South Africa miss out on a top-eight finish by just a single goal. They had kept the world’s fourth-ranked team goalless in the first half, but an early penalty corner strike in the second half proved the difference in a 1-0 defeat, that nevertheless made an impression on the world of hockey.

The defeat on Saturday evening meant South Africa had to play again less than 18 hours later against an enthusiastic Ireland team for a finish in the top-12.

Unfortunately, having put up such a stout effort in the previous game, the team’s lack of energy reserves caused them to sell themselves short in a 2-0 defeat.

After a bright start, South Africa gradually began falling off the pace, with ill-discipline and cards not helping their cause. Ireland began to take control of the match and it was only a heck of a defensive effort again which kept them to two goals. The Irish enjoyed 13 penalty corners to 1 and had 24 circle entries compared to South Africa’s 14.

“We’re disappointed with how we played,” Lilian du Plessis, who earned her 150^th cap on Sunday, said. “We let ourselves down a bit technically, we knew what to do tactically and it worked when we executed it properly.

“It was tough playing so soon after the Germany match, but we can’t use that as an excuse because individually we were not good enough.

“We need to regroup and refocus now, put lots of prep into our next game and try to fix what we got wrong today,” Du Plessis said.

Sitting 16^th and last in one of the United Rugby Championship’s statistical categories means the critics are always going to stare at that facet of the game, but forwards coach Russell Winter is adamant that the Bulls are really making progress in the scrums.

The Bulls have won 87% of their scrums, which is 1% less than the Ospreys and only 2% worse than the Stormers, who are generally considered to have a strong set-piece anchored by Steven Kitshoff.

“The margins are very small, one or two percent. We have really good players here and they work really hard,” Winter said on Tuesday. “Set-piece gives you control of a game and we are definitely getting better in the scrums.

“We lost a very good player in Trevor Nyakane and we’ve had some injuries. So we need to make sure we get some depth, particularly in the front row. We need to look at signing props to get depth.

“We don’t have any new signings there at the moment, but we are looking. But props are really hard to come by and no-one has really been open to negotiation.

“We do have two scrum coaches in Werner Kruger and Edgar Marutlulle and things have definitely progressed. And we’re very happy to have Mornay Smith back, he’s playing Currie Cup in midweek,” Winter said.

The Bulls did, however, announce the signing on Tuesday of the versatile Ruan Vermaak, the former Lions and Red Hurricanes lock who can also play back row.

The Bulls face the Dragons in Pretoria on Saturday and even though the Welshmen have struggled this season having lost their most-capped player, stalwart captain and loose forward Lewis Evans, to retirement at the end of last year, Winter is expecting their pack to come out wanting to move heaven and earth.

“We’re not too sure yet of their travelling squad but Welsh internationals coming back will obviously strengthen their pack and they will want to play well after Wales lost to Italy.

“Their coach Dean Ryan was at Newcastle where I played and he is a tough man, so I imagine he is a tough coach too. So the Dragons will have a hard pack and they will definitely come at us.

“It will be a big pack too, so we gave our guys a couple of days off to make sure we are ready for what’s coming. It’s going to be a good battle up front,” Winter said.