Namibian rugby prepares for crucial year

NAMIBIAN rugby faces a crucial year during which qualification for the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be on the line.

The national rugby team has done its country proud by qualifying for the last five world cups, but with the standard of rugby in Africa improving each year and competition intensifying, Namibia will be hard pushed to make it six in a row.

The acting CEO of the Namibia Rugby Union, Elizma Nortje however said she was optimistic that Namibia can once again qualify for the World Cup.

“This is going to be a crucial year, but I’m optimistic that we can qualify,” she said.

“The attendance at our training sessions have been high and the players are all very motivated to do well this year,” she said.

The Welwitschias didn’t have much of a break over the festive season and they already started training last week in preparation for the SuperSport Rugby Challenge which starts in April, while the Africa Gold Cup gets underway in June.

The winner of the Gold Cup will automatically qualify for the World Cup, while the runner-up will still have a chance of qualifying through an intercontinental repechage system.

Namibia has received a favourable draw for this year’s Africa Gold Cup, although there are some tricky ties to be negotiated.

Their opening matches should not be too difficult as they host Uganda and recently-promoted Morocco while they are away to Tunisia. Last year Namibia showed that they are good travellers after beating Uganda 48-24 in Kampala and Tunisia 53-7 in Monastir.

Their final two matches, away to Zimbabwe and at home to Kenya, will be much more difficult and will most probably determine who wins the Gold Cup. Last year Zimbabwe nearly shocked Namibia in Windhoek before losing 31-26 while Kenya, although losing 45-7 in Windhoek, have improved a lot over the past few years and cannot be underestimated.

According to Theron, national coach Phil Davies will arrive in Namibia next month, while they are also optimistic of re-signing Welwitschias coach Lyn Jones for the new season.

Last year, Jones worked wonders with the Welwitschias who, after years of underachievement, finally became a competitive side in the Currie Cup and had it not been for some close defeats, could well have made the play-offs.

“Lyn is on a three-year contract, renewable each year, and we are still waiting to hear if he wants to renew it this year. He did very well last year and we want to continue with him,” she said.

Besides the senior sides’ preparations, the national u20 team has also started training for the u20 Africa Cup, which takes place from 26 March to 1 April.

The venue still has to be determined but there is a good chance that Namibia will host the tournament, with Theron confirming that they will submit a tender next week.

Namibia will play Madagascar in the first round of the southern qualifier, with the winner taking on the winner between Zimbabwe and Kenya. The southern winner will then play the winner of the northern group, which consists of Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal and the Ivory Coast, to determine the u20 Africa champion, who will compete at the Junior World Rugby Trophy in September.

Meanwhile, Theron added that the NRU has appointed a new CEO who will be announced at a press conference next week.

“We sent adverts around the world last year but could not find a suitable candidate, so we asked World Rugby for assistance and they helped us to find a very capable candidate,” she said.