{"id":38455,"date":"2026-06-30T18:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38455"},"modified":"2026-06-30T18:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:40:19","slug":"coach-backs-sas-preparation-ahead-of-womens-usa-rugby-series","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/coach-backs-sas-preparation-ahead-of-womens-usa-rugby-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach backs SA&#8217;s preparation ahead of women&#8217;s USA rugby series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s (SA) assistant coach Franzel September says the Springbok Women have deliberately replicated high-intensity match conditions in training to ensure they are fully prepared for the physical threat posed by the United States (US).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Swys de Bruin has selected a 30-player squad for the upcoming two-Test series, retaining 22 players from the side that secured a breakthrough quarter-final finish at the 2025 Women&#8217;s Rugby World Cup. The remaining slots have been filled by standout performers from the Rugby Africa Women&#8217;s Cup and the domestic Premier Division. The team recently wrapped up their latest alignment camp in Stellenbosch as they finalise plans for the series.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>September believes that while the touring Americans possess significant match fitness, the South Africans have successfully simulated those elite pressures on the training paddock and are ready for the challenge.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":38456,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-38455","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa names 30-player women's rugby squad for USA Tests","published_date":"2026-06-30 18:14:16","news_description":"South Africa names 30-player women's rugby squad for USA Tests","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38457,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38455\/revisions\/38457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}