Springbok Women inside centre Shiniqwa Lamprecht says the squad has identified exactly how Ireland disrupted them in the first Test and is adamant the same problems will not recur when the teams meet again at 15h00 on Saturday in their WXV Global Series second Test.
"They played streetwise rugby at times and without delving into that, managed to disrupt us at times – they are not number five in the world for nothing," said Lamprecht, who is in line for her seventh Test cap. "After our reviews and looking back to the first Test, we got sucked into rucks where we did not belong and that created gaps in our defensive line that they managed to exploit. That will not happen again this weekend."
Lamprecht only made her fifteens debut against Fiji a few weeks ago after joining the squad on completion of the HSBC SVNS World Championships in July, having played 21 sevens tournaments and scored 11 tries for the Springbok Women's Sevens.
The rankings context sharpens Saturday's motivation considerably. South Africa entered the season ranked tenth and have since moved to ninth on 71.29 points. A win over Ireland would lift them to eighth, leapfrogging Italy, who sit just 0.70 points ahead on 71.99.
"When the season started, we were 10th on the world ranking, and we have moved to ninth. Victory on Saturday will see us improve to eighth – those are massive gains for the team and a huge motivation for us," said Lamprecht.
She also called on supporters to replicate the atmosphere generated at the first Test in Athlone. "Look at the crowd that came out to Athlone, it was amazing as they brought so much energy and vibe. We owe them a win."
The match-23 will be announced on Thursday, with tickets available via Ticketmaster.