Denver Wannies: A chance to test our players
By Denver Wannies
We catch up with South Africa coach Denver Wannies as he prepares his players for a two-test series against Kazakhstan - another Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 bound side - in Abu Dhabi next week.
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It's a busy time for my South African players as we continue our build up to Women's Rugby World Cup in England later this year. In the last month we've had another training camp in Port Elizabeth, our Interprovincial tournament has just kicked off and next week we'll be in Abu Dhabi for a two-test series against Kazakhstan.
The focus for our training camp in Port Elizabeth from 4-6 March was still on conditioning, but also becoming more position specific and we had the scientists in making sure that everybody knows what the requirements are for different positions.
I have to say that the mood in the squad is getting better by the day in my view, because you have to remember that I want people to compete for positions to board that plane to England in August. Others may not see it this way, but I am excited by the prospect.
The SARU Women's Interprovincial tournament kicked off last weekend and will continue every weekend bar two up to the finals in May. Two teams from a lower division have been promoted and on the opening weekend you could see that they know what is expected of them.
They are showing the spirit that South Africans are renowned for.
This tournament is a great opportunity for us to get our players match fit, even if the standard is not close to international competition. We are using it as a platform to gauge our players' fitness and their skill set.
Competition for places
It also gives us an opportunity to look at new talent and there are certainly some out there that can make the step up to the Springbok Women's team at any given time. We are very away that it is only five months to the World Cup and that is not a long time.
The players are fully aware of the fact that they have to play for a place in the World Cup team. The opportunity the Interprovincial tournament offers it not only for our current players, but also for those aspiring to make the Springbok team.
We also have our trip to Abu Dhabi to look forward to. I think Kazakhstan and ourselves are in the same position in that we are both struggling to get good quality opposition for warm up matches and as such will take up anything for the sake of getting some matches.
The tour came about through the SARU President, Oregan Hoskins, and we were only too happy to take up the opportunity to play against another side bound for Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 and we will make the most of it.
We also have two matches lined up against Scotland in June and we must get as much out of those and also the ones with Kazakhstan. We are hoping to see a good quality application of the structures we have put in place since August last year when we played in the Women's Nations Cup in Canada.
We are also hoping to see that our players understand the game structure the way we want them to, but most of all that they have developed the ability to play the brand of rugby that is expected at a Women's Rugby World Cup. Of course, once we return home from the tour it will be time to go back into the boardroom to assess the situation and then prepare for our series in Scotland.
Must-win matches
Even the games that we play in our camps are important too from an analysis point of view because it allows us to give the players an opportunity and feedback, which is vital as we continue our preparations.
Over the last two months I've also been keeping an eye on the Women's Six Nations in Europe, hardly surprising with five of them participating at the World Cup and Wales being one of our Pool A opponents.
It was pretty much as I had expected in that England were going to dominate. My focus really, though, was on the teams that we are going to be playing, your Scotland's and your Wales'. I realise that a lot can happen between now and August and that is why my focus is on the short to medium term issues.
I have been asked whether the fact that Wales enjoyed a disappointing Six Nations campaign by their standards is a good or bad thing for us, does it give us confidence that they are beatable or make them more dangerous as they will have a point to prove at the World Cup?
Our experience is that teams are targeting certain games that they must win. There is no doubt with us that all those we will play will have the same approach towards us and it is for this reason that my approach is that all games are must-wins. But yes, the losing does not make it easier for teams like us who do not get a lot of games.
Next week we hear from Cheryl Soon, who recently captained the Aussie Amazons to another women's Sevens title at the Hong Kong Sevens.
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