Starving for a win, the United States and South Africa faced off through sweltering heat on Sunday afternoon at Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario.
The United States never wavered as its opponents pushed hard during the third round of the 2009 Women’s Nations Cup.
An important game, it was the first win in several years for the Americans. “It has been a long time coming and I finally see us play[ing] in the way I think we can play,” said U.S. Head Coach Kathy Flores. “The players need to win to actually know they can win.”
The first try came early in the game from a drive by American flanker Phaidra Knight, putting her team on the scoreboard.
Knight managed to get a hold of the ball to score her second try after the American team had several failed fumbles by the opposing side’s line.
Not a team to give up, the rejuvenated South Africans came back from a water break determined to score. Natasha Hofmeester, supported by teammate Zandile Nojoko, made a break for the dead zone before being stopped short of their goal.
Hofmeester proved to be the person to beat, preventing American Christy Ringgenberg from scoring the third try of the game, while a collision amongst teammates stopped another attempt.
The Americans weren’t dissuaded. Victoria Folayan managed to sweep past the green jerseys and get the third try, ending the half at 17-0.
As the glaring sun held steady, so did the comfortable lead by United States. Despite the quick hands played by the opposition, the white wall held sturdy.
The first of three yellow cards to South Africa sent scrum half Saloma Booysen to the sidelines, putting her team at a disadvantage.
South Africa’s Head Coach Denver Wannier felt that the team was unlucky to have had three crucial decisions against them.
However, Flores felt that her team didn’t take as much advantage over the yellow cards as they should have. “I mean, they basically had their scrum half and one of their flankers sin binned – not at the same time of course, but we should’ve played around the scrum, not kicking the ball out.”
Regardless of the Americans lack of initiative over the sin binning, a penalty kick and try concluded the game at 39-0.
Disappointed, Wannier added, “I think that this is probably our poorest game. What we need to do is go back to the drawing board and look at the areas where we need to improve.”
South Africa plays England on Aug. 19 at 4 p.m., while U.S. plays Canada at 6:30 p.m.
