Namibia national rugby union team

Namibia

Union	Namibia Rugby Union
Nickname(s)	Welwitschias
Emblem(s)	African Fish Eagle
Coach(es)	Johan Diergaardt
Captain(s)	Jacques Burger
Top scorer	Jaco Coetzee (335)
Most tries	Gerhard Mans (27)
Team kit Change kit
First international
South West Africa 0 – 9 British and Irish Lions (5 July 1955)
Largest win
Namibia 116 – 0 Madagascar (June 15, 2002)
Largest defeat
Australia 142 – 0 Namibia (October 25, 2003)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1999)
Best result	Bottom of pool, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011

The Namibian rugby union team, nicknamed the Welwitschias or Biltongboere, represents Namibia at rugby union. Although they are a tier-three nation in the International Rugby Board (IRB) tier system, the team have participated in all three Rugby World Cup competitions since their first appearance in 1999. They are governed by the Namibia Rugby Union.

Namibia has been playing international rugby since the early 1900s. As well as having competed at the World Cup, Namibia annually competes in the Africa Cup. Until independence, players for Namibia were also eligible to represent South Africa, with Namibian-born Springboks including Jan Ellis and, more recently, Percy Montgomery. They are the second best team from Africa and the most likely first team candidate to join the second tier of world rugby.

History

Rugby union has been played in the country since 1916 when it was introduced by soldiers from South Africa who had invaded the German-run colony. Before Namibia gained its independence in 1990, the team, as South West Africa, played in South Africa's domestic club competition, the Currie Cup. The team achieved their best result in the 1989 season, where they finished third.

The Namibia Rugby Union was formed in March 1990, and it joined the International Rugby Board in the same month. Independence came too late for Namibia to qualify for Rugby World Cup 1991. Hardened by regular, tough competition in the Currie Cup, the first few years of Namibian rugby union were relatively successful, their highest point being 2–0 home series victories over Ireland and Italy in 1991. That year the Welwitschias won all 10 of their Tests, the others being five victories against Zimbabwe and one against Portugal in Lisbon.

During the international seasons Namibia played six games; the first of which was a 55–23 win over Zimbabwe. Following another victiory over Zimbabwe, in 1993 Namibia played Wales in Windhoek, losing 23–38. Namibia completed big victories over the Arabian Gulf rugby team, Kenya and Zimbabwe in the initial rounds of 1995 Rugby World Cup qualifying.

Russia toured Namibia in 1994, defeating the home team 31–12 in Windhoek. Although Namibia defeated Zimbabwe that year, the team lost to Côte d'Ivoire and drew with Morocco (all in Casablanca). In 1996 Namibia played two matches; losing 13–15 to Zimbabwe, and then defeating them by one point in a subsequent meeting. They played two games in 1997 as well, losing to Tonga and Zimbabwe.

During 1998 Namibia took part in the African tournaments for 1999 Rugby World Cup qualification. They started out in Round 3, where they finished second in the pool behind Zimbabwe on points difference (defeating Zimbabwe but losing to Tunisia). Namibia defeated Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco and Zimbabwe to qualify for the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

The team's participation was put in doubt when the Namibian government's Sports Commission barred the team from participating in a South African competition it had been using as preparation, and threatened to stop the team from taking part in the World Cup. This followed criticisms from non-white rugby clubs that the Namibian Rugby Union displayed racist attitudes. Ultimately, however, the team were allowed to take part.

The 1999 World Cup marked their debut at the tournament and since then they have been Africa's second representative alongside South Africa. While they suffered heavy defeats by France, Fiji and Canada, they took pride in scoring an early try and being level with France after 20 minutes.

However with a small player base, and lacking frequent or strong competition, the team has deteriorated in recent years. Their record in the World Cups has been poor as they have not yet managed a win. Their record defeat, 142–0 against Australia in the 2003 tournament, led to some questioning the presence of the minor teams at the tournament.

Namibia initially struggled in the qualifiers for the 2007 tournament, suffering a shock defeat to Kenya, their first ever to the East African nation, and another to Tunisia. After the Kenya defeat they slumped to 28th in the IRB rankings. However, after defeating Tunisia at home, they were effectively through to two deciding matches against Morocco, to determine which of the two African nations would make it to France in 2007. They convincingly won both legs, qualifying for the World Cup.

As the lowest ranked team at the start of the 2007 World Cup, they were given no chance in their opening game of against Ireland. However, they frustrated Ireland, then the 5th ranked team in the world, and scored two tries for their narrowest World Cup loss of 17–32. They were convincingly beaten in their games with Argentina (63–3) and France (87–10). And, in the game in which they were seen as having the best chance to win, they suffered a disappointing 30–0 loss to Georgia, to end the tournament winless.

The African side was able to win surprisingly the IRB Nations Cup in 2010, proving their improvement at international level.

Namibia achieved their third World Cup qualification in a row after defeating Ivory Coast in 2011. They were drawn into Pool D, with South Africa, Wales, Fiji and Samoa. Their first match in the Rugby World Cup, held in New Zealand (at the Rotorua International Stadium) resulted in a defeat by Fiji by 45-29. Their second match in this tournament was a 49–12 loss to Samoa but the third was a 87-0 loss to South Africa. In their final pool game, Wales proved to be too strong, as Namibia conceded 12 tries in a 81-7 defeat. Theuns Kotze provided his side's one consolation, as his conversion of a Heinz Koll try made him Namibia's all time highest Rugby World Cup points scorer.

World Cup record

Main article: Namibia at the Rugby World Cup

• 1987/1991 – Did not enter
• 1995 – Did not qualify
• 1999/2003/2007/2011 – Qualified

Record against other Nations

IRB World Rankings
Top 25 Rankings as of 27 February 2012
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	91.43
2		Australia	87.99
3		France	85.06
4		South Africa	84.34
5		Wales	82.62
6		England	81.34
7		Argentina	80.28
8		Ireland	79.44
9		Tonga	76.63
10		Samoa	75.81
11		Scotland	74.94
12		Italy	73.33
13		Canada	72.92
14		Japan	70.45
15		Georgia	69.32
16		Fiji	68.78
17		Romania	65.79
18		United States	65.63
19		Spain	62.72
20		Namibia	61.24
21		Uruguay	60.47
22		Russia	60.12
23		Chile	59.52
24		Portugal	59.30
25		Belgium	57.02
*Change from the previous week
Namibia's Historical Rankings
Source: IRB - Graph updated to 23/01/2012

Their test match record against all nations, updated to 22th September 2011, is as follows:

Nation	Games	Won	Lost	Drawn	Percentage of wins
Arabian Gulf	1	1	0	0	100%
Argentina	2	0	2	0	0%
Australia	1	0	1	0	0%
Botswana	1	1	0	0	100%
British and Irish Lions	4	0	4	0	0%
Ivory Coast	4	2	1	1	50%
Fiji	2	0	2	0	0%
France	5	0	5	0	0%
Georgia	3	1	2	0	33%
Germany	2	2	0	0	100%
Ireland	4	2	2	0	50%
Italy	3	2	1	0	66.7%
Kenya	5	4	1	0	80%
Madagascar	2	2	0	0	100%
Morocco	7	4	2	1	57.1%
Portugal	5	4	1	0	80%
Romania	3	1	2	0	33.3%
Russia	2	0	2	0	0%
Samoa	1	0	1	0	0%
Senegal	1	1	0	0	100 %
Spain	1	0	1	0	0%
South Africa	2	0	2	0	0%
Tonga	1	0	1	0	0%
Tunisia	7	4	3	0	57.14%
Uganda	2	1	1	0	50%
Uruguay	1	0	1	0	0%
Wales	3	0	3	0	0%
West Germany	1	1	0	0	100%
Zambia	2	2	0	0	100%
Zimbabwe	23	20	3	0	86.4%
Total (*)	87	46	40	1	52.9%

(*) Results against full national sides only

Current squad

30-man Namibia squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by the International Rugby Board.

Player Position Date of Birth (Age) Caps Club/province Hugo Horn Hooker 9 May 1977 (1977-05-09) 31 Unattached Egbertus O'Callaghan Hooker 18 February 1988 (1988-02-18) 7 Wanderers Jané du Toit Prop 2 October 1975 (1975-10-02) 19 Hamilton Raoul Larson Prop 14 May 1984 (1984-05-14) 0 Villagers Johannes Redelinghuys Prop 2 February 1984 (1984-02-02) 26 Wanderers Marius Visser Prop 24 April 1982 (1982-04-24) 15 Border Bulldogs Nico Esterhuyse Lock 5 March 1984 (1984-03-05) 26 Keetmanshoop Hendrik Franken Lock 16 January 1987 (1987-01-16) 0 Villagers Uakazuwaka Kazombiaze Lock 25 January 1979 (1979-01-25) 22 Reho Falcons Heinz Koll Lock 3 February 1982 (1982-02-03) 9 London Wasps Jacques Burger (c) Flanker 29 July 1983 (1983-07-29) 25 Saracens Tinus du Plessis Flanker 3 April 1984 (1984-04-03) 26 London Wasps Rohan Kitshoff Flanker 13 September 1985 (1985-09-13) 5 Western Province Renaud van Neel Flanker 23 May 1988 (1988-05-23) 0 Namibia Uni Jacques Nieuwenhuis Number 8 23 March 1980 (1980-03-23) 20 Stade Aurillac Pieter-Jan van Lill Number 8 4 December 1983 (1983-12-04) 15 Stade Aurillac Ryan de la Harpe Scrum-half 2 September 1982 (1982-09-02) 3 Moseley Eugene Jantjies Scrum-half 8 October 1986 (1986-10-08) 27 Farul Constanţa Theuns Kotze Fly-half 16 July 1987 (1987-07-16) 5 Johannesburg Uni Tertius Losper Fly-half 22 November 1985 (1985-11-22) 9 Western Suburbs Darryl de la Harpe Centre 10 February 1986 (1986-02-10) 7 Western Suburbs David Philander Centre 4 January 1987 (1987-01-04) 9 United Danie van Wyk Centre 30 March 1986 (1986-03-30) 3 United Piet van Zyl Centre 14 May 1979 (1979-05-14) 14 Bourgoin Heini Bock Wing 28 December 1981 (1981-12-28) 23 Reho Falcons Conrad Marais Wing 26 April 1989 (1989-04-26) 2 Montpellier Espoirs McGrath van Wyk Wing 18 September 1987 (1987-09-18) 9 Farul Constanţa Llelwellyn Winkler Wing 7 September 1987 (1987-09-07) 6 Western Suburbs Chrysander Botha Fullback 13 July 1988 (1988-07-13) 14 Kudus Danie Dames Fullback 7 February 1986 (1986-02-07) 0 Leopards

7 reserves were also named.
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by the International Rugby Board.

Player Position Date of Birth (Age) Caps Club/province Shaun Esterhuizen Hooker 18 May 1987 (1987-05-18) 10 United Hauta Veii Prop 14 May 1986 (1986-05-14) 10 Namibia Uni Casper Viviers Prop 1 June 1988 (1988-06-01) 4 Saint-Junien Morné Blom Lock 25 April 1989 (1989-04-25) 3 United Roger Thompson Centre 28 September 1983 (1983-09-28) 10 Western Suburbs Tinus Venter Centre 8 United Sergio de la Harpe Wing 12 August 1987 (1987-08-12) 1 Western Suburbs

See also

• Namibia Rugby Union
• Rugby union in Namibia

External links

• Namibianrugby.com
• A place to meet and chat about namibian rugby.
• Namibian rugby union news from Planet Rugby
• Namibia World Cup 2007 Preview (in Portuguese)
• Namibia World Cup 2007 Preview & follow-up (in French)