But, what a fabulous journey it has been for the team, who’ll feature in the World Cup knockouts for the first time.
The Springbok women’s team’s historic World Cup campaign is set to come to an end this coming weekend, but only after they feature in their first ever knockout match at the showpiece event, against powerhouse New Zealand.
It’s maybe unfair to be talking about them losing before they have even played, but a first ever win over New Zealand is highly unlikely and a bridge too far for the constantly growing Springbok women.
They have only ever played New Zealand once, losing 55-3 at the 2010 World Cup, but they are the most successful women’s team in history, having won six of the nine Women’s Rugby World Cups to have been played and are the current defending champions.
They may not be as dominant as they have been previously, having slipped down the world rankings to third, behind England and Canada, but they are still an incredibly powerful team and one of the tournament favourites.
The Springbok women have already enjoyed a fantastic World Cup, thumping Brazil 66-6 and clinching a first ever win over Italy 29-24, which secured their place in the quarterfinals for the first time in their history.
No match
But their final pool match against France over the past weekend showed that they are unfortunately no match for the top four women’s teams in the game.
France are the fourth ranked team and if the 10th ranked Springbok women wanted to prove they had a shot in the knockouts they had to put up a strong challenge, but were instead brushed aside 57-10.
There is a big gap between the world’s top four, and the rest, as was shown by New Zealand hammering fifth ranked Ireland 40-0 in their final pool game, which was after they had already crushed Japan 62-19 and Spain 54-8 in their previous pool games.
So, it is unfortunately set to be the end of the road for the Springbok women this coming weekend, but expect them to go out with a bang, as they throw everything they have at New Zealand, and leave the showpiece event with their heads held high.
