SA’s X factor — Nadine Roos is vital to women’s rugby teams shining this year

Bafana Nhleko, head coach of the Junior Boks.Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images

23 Mar 2025

The 2024 Player of the Year has a heavy weight on her shoulders in both the 15s and sevens sides, but feels no burden in carrying it.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 is fast approaching, with the opening match between hosts England and the USA on 22 August.

South Africa have ambitious goals for the tournament. As a start, they have set their sights on reaching the quarterfinals for the first time, and for that to happen, star player Nadine Roos will have to be in fine form.

Roos, who claimed the SA Rugby Women’s Player of the Year award at a ceremony in Cape Town on 13 March, is an integral part of the sevens and 15s sides. It is the second time in three years that she has won the award, having also been recognised in 2022.

She is the national side’s main attacking threat in the shorter form of the game, and the chief playmaker. She is also responsible for the kicking duties, both into touch and at goal.

Her responsibilities in the 15-a-side version of the game have expanded over the past 10 months since Swys de Bruin has taken over as performance coach – essentially a head coach role – of the national team.

Roos has moved from fullback, where the team relied on her for game-breaking runs, to flyhalf, where her decision-making has come to the fore and has become her most valuable asset to the side.

She is the X factor in both teams and SA Rugby has duly given her the recognition. But the responsibility she carries in the two sides has not weighed too heavily on her shoulders.

“I know the experience that I can contribute towards the teams also plays a massive role, but for me it’s not to put that weight on my shoulders, and I think the team expects it from me,” Roos said.

Nadine Roos Springbok women Swys de Bruin Springbok women head coach Swys de Bruin. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)

“For me, just to be able to play with my flair on the field and contribute the strength that I can towards the team... that’s important and I’ve never had that experience of the expectation from other people around me to do more than what’s expected of me.

“For me, it’s just to flourish within the systems and make sure that when I do my job I do it well and I give the team that momentum that’s needed, and everything else is out of my hands.”

Busy schedule

This is a big year for Springbok women’s rugby, with the sevens side also looking to get back in the World Series. They took part in the Challenger Series in the first two weekends of March, hosted at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.

The team placed third and second over the two weekends, respectively, with Kenya claiming victory in both events.

Two weeks later, Roos was in a Springbok 15s alignment camp – akin to what the Springbok men have implemented over the past few seasons – in preparation for the 2025 Women’s World Cup.

She jets off with the sevens side again next month to Krakow, Poland, for the next Challenger Series round. The top four sides there will fly to Los Angeles, California, in May to battle for promotion to the World Series.

It’s not an easy few months to juggle for the dynamic player, but for both teams to be successful in their quests this year, they need her talents.

Bafana Nhleko, former head coach of the Junior Boks. (Photo: Grant Pitcher / Gallo Images)

One better

South Africa’s last Women’s World Cup campaign in 2022 ended in heartbreak and pain when they conceded a 78th-minute try to Fiji to go down 21-17 in Auckland, New Zealand. The result meant South Africa finished at the bottom of their group after defeats to England and France before that.

Three years later, the women’s side, who have only won one match in their history at the tournament – 15-10 against Wales in 2010 – are looking to double that number in one tournament.

“[Our goal] is a quarterfinal,” Roos said. “We’re definitely targeting the Brazil and Italy games, definitely want to prepare well for those two games and make sure we get ourselves into that quarterfinal spot.”

France is the other team in Pool D. Two victories should be enough to see the Bok Women advance to the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time.

But what has changed from the team that failed to win a single match in 2022?

In terms of on-field personnel, each member of the team who started against Fiji has played for the Springbok Women in the past 12 months, and most of the players who were on the bench that day are still in the selection frame.

The off-field staff have changed, however, with De Bruin and former Junior Springbok coach Bafana Nhleko taking over from Louis Koen and Stanley Raubenheimer – who led the side at the World Cup.

“Coach Swys and Coach Baf coming in have changed a bit of the things, implementing more attacking systems, making sure everyone is aligned with the defensive system that Coach Baf wants to implement,” Roos said. “And also, they’re keeping it really simple, which really helps a lot.”

The simplicity of the attacking and defensive game plans have helped the team in adapting quickly to what the coaches have been trying to implement, said Roos.

“Some ladies don’t play rugby from a young age – they start playing at university level, maybe from the age of 17 to 18. So really simplifying it for them to understand their role and responsibility on the field, and all this preparation, it definitely is a bit better,” she added.

“There’s more experience as well. Some players have played a World Cup before – it’s more experience than when you look at the New Zealand World Cup before that.”

Only lock Nolusindiso Booi, scrumhalf Tayla Kinsey and now retired flyhalf Zenay Jordaan had played at South Africa’s previous Women’s Rugby World Cup appearance in 2017, before the 2022 showpiece.

“We actually had a lot of players making their debut at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand,” Roos said.

“There’s more experience going to the next World Cup in terms of however they may select the team, and I think also the boost was to make sure that players actually play more Test matches, gain more experience out of that as well, because that almost sets what’s required of you from an international standpoint.”

If South Africa’s women’s rugby teams are to fulfil their goals for the year, Roos will need to be on the field and in the match-winning form that saw her named the player of the year for 2024. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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One better