Bok women go down fighting against Spain in Despatch

It was not to be for the Springbok Women rugby side despite a valiant effort as they went down 29-12 to Spain in Despatch on Saturday afternoon.

Both teams fought hard at the breakdowns, however, a number of handling errors from the Bok side brought an end to some promising play.

After some cagey opening exchanges, it was the Spanish women who broke the deadlock when captain Paula Medina crossed the line in the eighth minute to hand the visitors a 5-0 lead after the missed conversion.

The Spaniards were on the scoresheet again in the 25th minute as flyhalf Patricia Garcia slotted a penalty to give them an 8-0 lead.

They crossed the line again soon after when Maria Calvo finished off a slick move by the Spanish side. Flyhalf Garcia kicked conversion to stretch their lead to 15-0 with only six minutes left in the half.

However, buoyed by the intimate crowd at the WJ de Wet Stadium, the Springbok women fought back and a chip over the top saw fullback Vuyolwethu Maqholo gather the loose ball and dot down in the corner on the stroke of half-time as they went into the break trailing by 10 points.

The second half began much the same as the first ended, with both teams trying to dominate the breakdown.

Spain were on the front foot again as Calvo went over in the 46th minute for her second try of the match. The successful conversion from Garcia taking the score to 22-5 favour of Spain.

Not to be outdone, the Springbok women again fought their way to the Spanish tryline, this time it was captain Babalwa Latsha who went over with Tayla Kinsey adding the two points to bring them back to within 10.

The Springbok Women came close to scoring on a number of occasions, but again handling errors let them down with the tryline in sight.

The visitors had one more trick up their sleeve as Iera Echeberria scored in the 65th minute. Garcia converted the try to take the score to 29-12 with 15 minutes to play.