The Springbok Women were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup by a star-studded New Zealand side after a 46-17 defeat on Saturday.
The South Africans were in the fight at the break but the defending champions pulled away in the second half for the convincing victory.
The South Africans can hold their heads high though – after reaching the quarter-finals for the first time ever, they stayed in the fight against a classy Kiwi team and gave it their all.
Both scored two first-half tries as they went into the break with the scores locked at 10-all, but the second half belonged to the Black Ferns.
Great start
The South Africans started very well and had the Black Ferns under pressure in the early exchanges. They were finally rewarded when Babalwa Latsha scored after 20 minutes.
New Zealand came back hard with two tries in less than five minutes – by Theresa Setefano and Braxton Sorensen-McGee – as they exploited some errors by the Bok Women, but the last say in the half belonged to Aphiwe Ngwevu, who crashed over after the buzzer.
The Black Ferns got straight back onto the front foot after the break with three tries in the opening seven minutes of the second stanza – by Renee Holmes, Sorenzon-McGee and Kaipo Olsen-Baker – to take a 15-point lead as their experience showed.
Despite the South African Bomb Squad coming onto the field, the Kiwis kept their feet on the accelerator and Olsen-Baker scored their sixth try in the 55th minute to take a firm grip on the game.
They didn’t let up and after winning a South African lineout on their own 5m line, the Kiwis shifted the ball right to Holmes, who scored her second try.
Terrible but brave end for SA
Yonela Ngxingolo thought she had added her name to the score sheet after the Bok Women finally worked their way into position with some patience on attack, but the TMO ruled obstruction and the try was cancelled.
A few minutes later, Lerato Makua was not going to be denied as she finished off a good spell for the Bok Women with a well-deserved try, but the last say belonged to Katelyn Vahaakolo, who broke through a number of tackles to score the final try of the match.
Scorers:
Springbok Women 17 (10) – Tries: Babalwa Latsha, Aphiwe Ngwevu, Lerato Makua. Conversion: Byrhandré Dolf.
New Zealand 46 (10) – Tries: Theresa Setefano, Braxton Sorensen-McGee (2), Renee Holmes (2), Kaipo Olsen-Baker (2), Katelyn Vahaakolo. Conversions: Holmes, Sorensen-McGee (2).
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