{"id":45308,"date":"2020-03-09T11:45:16","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T09:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/springbok-women-to-defend-rugby-africa-womens-cup-title\/"},"modified":"2020-03-09T11:45:17","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T09:45:17","slug":"springbok-women-to-defend-rugby-africa-womens-cup-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/springbok-women-to-defend-rugby-africa-womens-cup-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Springbok Women to defend Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup title"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In another step up for womens\u2019 rugby in South Africa, the Springbok Women celebrated International Women\u2019s Day on Sunday with the news that they will defend their Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup title between May and July, with the tournament featuring a historic first Test match in Madagascar.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup marks the second edition of the tournament, with the Springbok Women set to play three matches \u2013 against Uganda on Saturday 30 May in Pretoria; Madagascar on Sunday 28 June in Antananarivo; and Kenya on Friday 3 July in Cape Town. The match venues will be announced at a later stage.<\/p>\n

Kenya, Madagascar and Uganda will cross paths with one another in the other three matches, with the team accumulating the most log points at the end of the series being crowned the champions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe announcement that the Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup will be hosted again this year is fantastic news for the Springbok Women and for the advancement of the women\u2019s game in Africa in general,\u201d said SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux, who also serves as Rugby Africa\u2019s Secretary General.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe growth and improvement of women\u2019s rugby is one of our top priorities at SA Rugby, and the fact that World Rugby and Rugby Africa have also placed women\u2019s rugby high on their agenda will bode well for the development of the sport worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roux added: \u201cI would like to thank World Rugby and Rugby Africa for again placing their faith in us to host two of these significant matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would also like to congratulate all the women\u2019s rugby players on the African continent for their commitment to the game and for doing their bit to contribute to a gender equal sport.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Springbok Women won the inaugural Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup in Brakpan in 2019 \u2013 which doubled up as the 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifier \u2013 and they won all three matches emphatically to book their place in the international spectacle in New Zealand next year.<\/p>\n

The competition format differs this season with the matches being staggered over a longer period across a handful of venues in each of the participating countries in line with Rugby Africa\u2019s objective to host the women\u2019s event concurrently with the men\u2019s tournament. This will see some of the matches in the other countries being played as curtain-raisers to the men\u2019s games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very excited to participate in the Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup again this season,\u201d said Springbok Women\u2019s coach Stanley Raubenheimer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a fitting way for the players to celebrate International Women\u2019s Day. Playing our first Test in Madagascar is also thrilling, and I believe it will be a fantastic experience for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raubenheimer said every opportunity to play a Test match will count with an eye on their preparations for the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are determined to improve the standard of our rugby looking ahead to the World Cup and every match we play and training camp we host will be vital in achieving this,\u201d said the coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently embarking on a drive to host centralised training sessions within the provinces on a weekly basis and to assist the players individually from a conditioning, training and nutrition perspective. This is with the greater goal of improving their fitness, skills and understanding of our game plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially the more time we spend together, the better it will be for the team because that is critical to any side\u2019s success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raubenheimer said there were in the process of trying to arrange further Test matches for the team later in the season.<\/p>\n

He also gave a special message to women\u2019s players for International Women\u2019s Day, saying: \u201cI would like to thank all the women\u2019s rugby players in South Africa for their contribution to breaking barriers and showing that rugby is a game for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players I have worked with since taking over the position as Springbok Women\u2019s coach have showed without doubt that they are equally dedicated and passionate about the sport as their male counterparts, and it is pleasing that we can celebrate their achievements on a day like International Women\u2019s Day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Springbok Women\u2019s Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup fixtures:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, 30 May \u2013 Springbok Women v Uganda, Pretoria
\nSunday, 28 June \u2013 Madagascar v Springbok Women, Antananarivo, Madagascar
\nFriday, 3 July \u2013 Springbok Women v Kenya, Cape Town<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of South African Rugby Union.<\/i><\/p>\n

Media Contact:<\/strong>
\nRugby@apo-opa.com<\/p>\n

Source<\/a>
\n
South Africa Today Africa \u2013 Central Africa Congo<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Download logo In another step up for womens\u2019 rugby in South Africa, the Springbok Women celebrated International Women\u2019s Day on Sunday with the news that they will defend their Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup title between May and July, with the tournament featuring a historic first Test match in Madagascar. This year\u2019s Rugby Africa Women\u2019s Cup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":188473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8377],"tags":[258,256,4696,4554,8378,8379,8381,6674,11846,257,8495,254,24816,6675,8380,6524,6460],"class_list":["post-45308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-congo","tag-africa","tag-africa-news","tag-central-africa","tag-congo","tag-congo-news","tag-congo-republic","tag-congo-brazzaville","tag-cup","tag-defend","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa-today","tag-springbok","tag-title","tag-west-congo","tag-women","tag-womens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}