Having conceded eight tries to Canada in Pretoria last weekend, they only conceded five in this Eastern Cape clash, two of which came late in the game to give the visitors a more satisfying result.

Overall, the South Africans were in the game for much longer than a week ago and had it not been for some small errors, the scoreline would have shown a much closer picture.

Canada had all the early play and momentum and five minutes in, Brittany Kassil scored their first try. The visitors moved the ball through the hands and finally outnumbered the SA side, with the prop crashing over from close range. Fullback Julia Schell kicked the conversion.

The Canadians clearly had the intent to play a fast, passing game to stretch the SA defence and move their pack around and that gave them good field position and possession.

The Bok Women rolled with the early punches and managed to keep Canada out, but were guilty of sloppy handling when in possession. That was not the worst thing in the world as that forced scrums, where the home side had parity, but prevented them from gaining momentum.

Canada suffered a setback when Pam Buisa was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Babalwa Latsha 16 minutes in, with the score at 7-0, but the South Africans just could not muster the momentum to make it count.

Jakkie Cilliers is stopped on her way to the tryline.

The Bok Women forced a couple of penalties on their opponents, who were living dangerously at the breakdown area, and that allowed the host team to slowly make their way up the field.

Canada then lost Olivia DeMerchant to the sin-bin after she illegally stopped a Bok maul near her line, leaving them with 13 players. From the following scrum, South Africa were held up over the line, but they finally had some momentum, giving the ever-growing crowd something to shout about.

An injury to DeMerchant's replacement, Rori Wood, left the visitors without another prop, with uncontested scrums the result.

Yet another setback for the Canadians came a minute later when Laetitia Royer cried off, but they finally worked their way over the line from short range when hooker Gillian Boag scored. Schell kicked the conversion and with eight minutes left in the half, the visitors held a 14-0 lead.

The Boks came close again when Zintle Mpupha had a nice break, but lost the ball in her run to the line and Canada could recover.

South Africa were on the board early in the first half. A couple of quick tap penalties had Canada in trouble and after a number of runs, Ayanda Malinga was worked in space and finished well in the left-hand corner. The conversion was wide, but not so the SA intent.

Zintle Mpupha pins her ears back.

Some replacements off the bench freshened up the home side legs, with Nomsa Mokwai and Sinazo Mcatshulwa amongst those who made good impact shortly after coming on.

Canada also had some big shots off the bench in Sophie de Goede and Olivia Apps. They had an immediate impact. De Goede organised a solid drive to the line and Apps cleverly played the blind to feed Carissa Norsten who scored in the corner. The conversion was wide and after 55 minutes of rugby, the second ranked side in the world had a 19-5 lead.

This was a proper effort from the South African side, who defended stoutly despite their skilled opponents trying an array of tactical plays to get around them.

They actually came very close following a lovely backline move which saw Jakkie Ciliers gaining multiple metres and almost got her forwards over the final following a couple of pick-and-go's. Another strong play had the SA side withing touching distance of the Canada line, but a handling error proved costly.

Two late tries by Canada, one from a maul and another from a good attack from out wide, made their trip worth their while, but spare some thoughts for the SA side, who would gave claimed many more followers following this performance.

The experience gained from playing the world number two side and keeping them busy for 80 minutes was indeed a true indications of their progress and growth.

Scorers:

Springbok Women 5 (0) – Try: Ayanda Malinga.

Canada 33 (14) – Tries: Brittany Kassil, Gillian Boag, Carissa Norsten, Tyson Beukeboom, Krissy Scurfield. Conversions: Julia Schell (2), Madison Grant (2).