Co-head coaches Franzel September and Laurian Johannes-Haupt believe the Springbok Women can correct the errors that cost them in Saturday's 40-27 WXV Global Series defeat to Ireland at Athlone Stadium, with the two sides meeting at the same venue again next Saturday.
Ireland ran six tries to five to claim the victory, with September pointing to unforced errors at critical moments as the primary factor — particularly in the Irish red zone where possession was repeatedly surrendered.
"We had a number of opportunities in their red zone and then spilled it. That is not us. We had two mauls stopped five metres from their line. That is not us. We can fix that though, so that is why I believe we can turn this around next weekend," said September.
Johannes-Haupt acknowledged Ireland's clinical edge while maintaining confidence in the squad's ability to respond: "They outplayed us at times, but we can fix what happened. We scored five good tries and could have had more if we were more clinical when on attack. Our defence was also not accurate enough at times."
Vice-captain Unam Tose framed the loss in terms of the team's responsibility to their supporters and to growing the women's game.
"Today we disappointed a lot of people by not getting a result that we are capable of. We do want to inspire others, especially young girls to take up the game, but then we must make them proud. That is why today's result was so disappointing," said Tose.
The second Test kicks off at 15h00 on Saturday 31 October at Athlone Stadium, with tickets available through Ticketmaster.