The South Africa Women’s Rugby team defeated Italy 29-24. With this result, they qualified for the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup for the very first time.
As the only African team in the tournament, South Africa had previously beaten Brazil 66-6. Next Sunday, they will face France, which will determine the group winner.
After that, South Africa’s quarter-final opponent will be decided. Their possible rivals are New Zealand or Ireland.
Head coach Swys de Bruin made the following statement about the match:
“This is incredible, such an emotional moment. We had never reached the quarter-finals before, and we had never beaten Italy.
“Our nation is behind these girls. It is in our blood. We just love it. We try to follow our men’s teams, the sevens, the under-20s. We thought it was time to catch up. Our girls were absolutely fantastic.”