Namibia ready for Tunisia

Namibia’s national rugby team is confident and raring to go for their final World Cup qualifying match against Tunisia on Saturday. Namibia hold a five-point lead after beating Tunisia 18-13 in the first leg in Tunis on 14 November and will be firm favourites to beat Tunisia in front of their home fans at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday.

The Namibian Rugby Union has called on Namibian fans to arrive in large numbers and in an effort to ensure a big crowd, they announced that entrance will be free for the open stands although fans will still have to pay N$50 for seats on the Grand Stand.

The Namibian team meanwhile held two tough training sessions on Monday and Tuesday, before taking it easy on Wednesday. During the lunch hour, national players signed autographs and mingled with fans at Maerua Mall and Wernhill Park where they appeared relaxed and looking forward to Saturday’s encounter.

Namibia’s lock forward Wacca Kazombiaze said the training had gone very well.

“The preparation is going very well and the guys in the camp are just awesome. We just have something that we have to finish off. We are 80 minutes away from the World Cup and we need to finish off Tunisia on Saturday,” he said.

Kazombiaze said that Namibia was not at its best in the first leg in Tunisia and that they would perform better on Saturday.

“The first match in Tunisia was not so easy. Namibia’s backline has got a lot of young boys and they had a very difficult time in Tunis. Our forwards pulled us through there but here at home, I bet you the backline will also play their part,” he added.

“Tunisia does not have a bad scrum but we have been working on our scrum since Monday so we have to push them away,” he added.

If Namibia beat Tunisia they will qualify for their fourth successive World Cup in New Zealand in 2011. But they will be drawn in a very tough group along with world champions South Africa, Fiji, Samoa and Wales in Group D.

Kazombiaze, who was a member of the team that played at the 2007 World Cup in France, said that they were determined to do well this time around after they failed to win a match in 2007.

“It will be very different next time at the World Cup because we will be in a very tough group. We have seen from our previous experience that it’s not just a matter of getting there, but also one of being able to perform at the highest level.
that you have to perform there,” he said.

Kazombiaze called on Namibians to attend Saturday’s match in large numbers.

“All the Namibians go an vote and then come to the rugby. We will push the Tunisians in a corner and then we will send them home,” he said.

Namibian scrumhalf Eugene Jantjies said that they would not be over confident or underestimate the Tunisians.

“It’s going to be like a final and in a final anything can happen. Not everyone is confident that we are going to win but we are determined to do our best,” he said.

“We need a lot of supporters out there on Saturday and the Open Stand entrance is free so they must come. If we win here we are going to the World Cup and it won’t be like the last time when we didn’t win a match, now we will be going to compete,” he added.