Diergaardt appointed national rugby coach

JOHAN Diergaardt has been appointed as the national rugby coach after beating three other short-listed candidates to the post.

At a press conference in Windhoek on Thursday, the president of the NRU, Corrie Mensah said that ‘it was a close and tough race,’ but that Diergaardt was the most suitably qualified for the post.

“To ensure that we arrive at the most suitable person, a scoring model was used and after an in-depth assessment by the interview panel, Johan Diergaardt was recommended for the position of head coach.”

“The interview panel looked at various requirements such as qualifications, technical abilities, personal relationships and coaching experience, while an important requirement was that the coach had to have a World Rugby Level 3 coaching certificate,” he added.

It will be Diergaardt’s second stint as Namibia head coach, after he led the team to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Under his leadership, Namibia won the Nations Cup for the first time in 2010, although they remained winless at the World Cup.

He stepped down after the 2011 World Cup, but then made his mark in local rugby as coach of Unam, when they won the Premier League title for three years in a row from 2015 to 2017.

More recently, he was recalled to the national set-up as coach of the Welwitschias and Phil Davies’ understudy for the national team, while he also coached the national u20 team last year. That team failed to qualify for the Junior World Rugby Trophy for the first time in six years, after being beaten by Kenya in Nairobi, but Mensah said their were extenuating circumstances.

“We thought Liverpool would continue to win in the FA Cup, but they have now suffered three losses in four games, so each coach can fail. There were also various other factors that played a role.

“Diergaardt only had two weeks to prepare for the tournament, and only four South African-based players were allowed to participate. We all know that our best players are in South Africa, either studying or as part of rugby academies, so I think that’s an unfair practise by Rugby Africa and we will address that with them. Also, Kenya were playing on their home field and it’s difficult to compete in Africa,” he said.

According to Mensah, three other coaches were short-listed for the position, namely Wilber Kraak and Jonathan Mokuena of South Africa, and Antonio Aguilar of Portugal, who were all interviewed via Skype.

Mensah also announced several other appointments for the national team.

Jood Opperman was appointed national u20 coach, beating Robbie Dickson and Chrysander Botha to the post, while David Philander was appointed national Sevens coach, ahead of Gerald Loubser and Renaldo Pedro.

Irwin Newman was appointed as national team manager, Desiree Coetzee as the u20 team manager, and Jacky Husselman as the Sevens team manager.

Mensah, meanwhile confirmed that the Welwitschias will participate in the South African SuperSport Challenge, in the northern section of the competition.

Their first match is at home to the Blue Bulls on 25 April, to be followed by two away matches against the Golden Lions and Griquas.

On 16 May they will host the Griffons in Windhoek, before two more away matches against the Leopards and the Pumas.

Namibia’s national team will host Zambia in Group A of the Africa Cup on 30 May, while they are away to Madagascar on 27 June, before the knockout stages against the other groups start at the end of July.

Mensah said they hoped to also compete in the Nations Cup and on their European tour at the end of the year, but were still negotiating with World Rugby about this.