The Welwitschias are focused on causing New Zealand more problems on Friday and not dwelling on their chastening Rugby World Cup defeat to Italy 2023 on Saturday, says Allister Coetzee.
The Namibian coach took “plenty of positives” from the 52-8 loss in Saint-Étienne, France, which will be channeled towards an improved showing against the wounded All Blacks, who are smarting from being overpowered 27-13 by hosts Les Bleu in the tournament opener on Friday.
“After any loss in a test match you cannot dwell too much on the past. We’ve looked at our positives. I’m really pleased with the effort. Obviously, the result didn’t show that but we’re focusing on the next match,” Coetzee said during training on Monday afternoon.
He does not expect Namibia to end their tournament winless run against the joint three-time world cup winners in Toulouse, their best chance of doing so is against Uruguay in their final Pool A fixture on 27 September, he said, but he wants his side to put up a fight.
“Next for us is to be as best as we can. We are up against one of the top sides in world rugby. The New Zealanders are obviously hurting as well and they will come out guns blazing,” Coetzee noted. “The big thing for me is to make sure the belief stays in the team; believing in our systems and what we’ve planned. We’ve gotta execute that better. When we throw punches and they put pressure on us, we make sure we have something to counter with and keep punching,” he said.
“We had lots of opportunities which we didn’t convert into points. So, that’s something we’re trying to fix for this coming week.
The All Blacks are one hell of a challenge, we all know that. We have to be very good and smart about our basics.
“We wanna earn the respect against the opposition we play against. And, the players know that once you play against an All Blacks side, those guys have a lot of time for you and they respect you once you don’t give up,” said Coetzee.
For the All Blacks, they are on a Rugby World Cup rescue mission with Namibia, the first obstacle, and are likely to take their frustrations out on the Welwitschias.
They will still be very confident of reaching the quarter-finals as Pool A runners-up, barring any shock defeats for Les Bleus.
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