South Africa may be the overwhelming underdogs ahead of their Women's Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against New Zealand on Saturday, but they have no intention of going quietly, says coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt.
The quarterfinal at Sandy Park will be the Springboks women's first-ever World Cup knockout game, after they beat Brazil and Italy in the group stage to advance. They lost their final group match against France 57-10.
Despite that loss, and the Black Ferns being a powerhouse side, Johannes-Haupt says her players are prepared, fired up, and ready to tackle the challenge.
The coach said on the SA Rugby website that the lack of expectations for a win by the world at large was actually a positive: "That will in fact make the job easier for the players to just focus on the job at hand.
"We do not need to worry about anything else; we can just go out and play and make sure we stick to our processes. We have a plan for this match and prepared well - there is no way that we will just roll over because we are playing against a team that have won this tournament six times already."
She added: "What makes me most proud of this full circle is to see where we are now, how much we have grown and more specially, how much our group have progressed over the last couple of seasons.
"Here we are, ready to play the biggest game of our lives and the players cannot wait to go out and play and do their best. That is very rewarding for me, firstly as an ex-player, but also as a coach."
Bok flanker Sizophila Solontsi agreed that the Black Ferns would be a formidable challenge, but said that pride in the jersey and in their progress would carry her team forward.
Solontsi said: "We can't hide away from the fact they're ranked number three. Earlier we played Canada, they are number two. Those are the games we want, so that is fine, those are good pressures.
"The difference is that this is a knockout game with everything to lose. So, it is not about the team we're playing against; it's more about the knockout stage, but that shouldn't affect us much because we've worked for this.
"I prefer being an underdog going into a match. That status does not take away from our ability to play rugby, and it's anyone's game."
Much like their much-decorated male counterparts, the Boks women have a powerful scrum and pride themselves on their technical abilities in the pack, and hope to keep the Black Ferns backs quiet for as long as possible.
Johannes-Haupt added: "Our set piece has been working well in recent encounters against teams like Canada, Italy and the Black Ferns XV, and for the scrum coach, that is a good foundation in taking on the third ranked team in the world.
"We pride ourselves on our set piece, that is no secret, and will try and get New Zealand to play on our terms for as long as possible.
"If we can force them to play in our strong areas, we will have a realistic chance. Obviously, they would want to do the opposite and play with freedom out wide where their skilled backs have scored some good tries in this tournament, so it will be a clash of styles for sure."