Why South Africa hosting WXV2 is a step forward on National Women's Day

South African rugby fans woke up this morning with questions burning and percolating in the back of their minds. Can the Springboks defend their World Cup crown with only one recognisable fly-half? Is there such a thing as too many scrum-halves? And can a captain still add value if he doesn’t take the field?

But rugby is only a game. One that unites millions across the land but can’t claim to be truly ubiquitous. What is really uniting the 60 million people of the country together this morning is a day in honour of the 20,000 women who marched on the union buildings in Pretoria on 9 August 1956 to protest the unjust laws of the apartheid regime.

National Women’s Day in South Africa was first officially celebrated in 1995. That was a heady year for the country. A few months earlier Francois Pienaar collected the Webb Ellis Cup from president Nelson Mandela, who swept to power the year before in the country’s first free election on a wave of hope and optimism.

Women’s rugby was not even an afterthought at the time. The fascistic government of the past perpetuated the idea that a woman’s place was in the kitchen or on the birthing bed. But the new government promised to change the collective views of its citizenry.

This has proved to be another broken vow of the ruling African National Congress. According to recent research, between 25% and 40% of South African women have experienced sexual and or physical violence from their partner. The rate at which women are killed by an intimate partner in the country is five times higher than the global average. There are around 115 reported rapes a day.

According to Rinkette Steenkamp, who won a gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2014 African Championships, a number of factors inhibit the development of women’s sport.

In an illuminating and sweeping paper published by the University of Pretoria titled, ‘An exploration of there factors contributing to gender inequality in athletics participation and leadership’, Steenkamp unearths a plethora of problems:

“Women have been hindered in terms of access to sports participation in all different spheres of sport and the dominance of men in sport leadership positions is nothing new. The literature review indicates underlying factors such as gender stereotyping, socio-cultural expectations (and traditions), lack of media coverage, limited access to participation, limited education programmes and other initiatives.”

When Rugbypass spoke to several South African women rugby players, coaches and commentators last year during the World Cup in New Zealand, a common throughline was revealed.

“People told me my whole life that rugby is not for girls,” said the Springboks centre Sesethu Mtshazi. “There are a lot of obstacles that we need to overcome,” added high performance manager Lynne Cantwell. “South Africa is a deeply patriarchal society,” explained Elma Smit, a highly respected journalist and commentator who was recently told to “stick to netball” by a man on X (formerly Twitter) who defended his comment and failed to see his misogyny.

But the wheels are turning and there is reason to believe that the worst is behind us. The investment by the Blue Bulls in Pretoria into a fully professional women’s programme – the first in the country – is paying dividends. The Bulls Daisies currently top the Women’s Premier Division table with 11 wins from as many matches. They’re 18 points clear of the chasing pack with a positive points difference of 546. Western Province in second place have a points difference of 44.

“When I go to braais [barbecues] my cousins and uncles come up to me and want to talk rugby,” said Springboks and Daisies scrumhalf Rumandi Potgieter. “That’s something I didn’t expect when I started playing. When I first picked up a ball people would ask if I knew the rules and even if I knew how to pass properly. Now they boast that they know a Springbok and I’m the centre of attention at weddings and birthdays.”

Young girls and women can’t be what they can’t see and the lack of female rugby players in the country on TV and social media has hamstrung the development of the game. Which is why a new tournament scheduled for launch in Cape Town in October could further bolster a brand that has been on an upward trajectory since the World Cup.

The inaugural WXV competition run by World Rugby will see 18 nations compete across three groups. Joining South Africa in WXV 2 will be previous world champions the United States of America, Six Nations outfits Italy and Scotland, as well as Japan and Samoa.

“It’s massive for the women’s game and we can only commend World Rugby for designing and funding the competition,” Cantwell said. “I have no doubt that it is going to drive the standard of the game. We would love to market the women’s game as wide as possible and by having it on our doorstep, we can reach out to many potential fans and players by bringing the game to them.”

Recent evidence shows that there is an appetite for women’s sport in South Africa. The Netball World Cup, also hosted in Cape Town, saw large crowds attend a minority sport. The national cricket team reached last year’s T20 World Cup final while the national football side advanced to the next round of their World Cup last week. Both achievements eclipsed anything their male counterparts have accomplished. There is talent in the country. There is no telling what it could realise if it were matched by adequate investment and support.

The WXV is simply the start. Strong performances against higher ranked opposition could galvanise a rugby-hungry public and morph a largely anonymous squad into instantly recognisable figures. And as South Africa advance up World Rugby’s rankings from their current position of 12th, perhaps a title at world glory could be a realistic ambition in generations to come.

If all goes according to plan Springboks fans will wake up one morning and wonder if the national women’s side has made a mistake by selecting one too many scrum-halves or one too few hookers.

These same fans might quibble over selections and bemoan the absence of their favourite loose forward. None of this will solve the myriad challenges facing women in the country, but it would help recalibrate the social dynamics in a land that rightly and proudly celebrates National Women’s Day.