The Namibian Rugby team left Portugal on Wednesday on their way to Tunisia for their penultimate World Cup qualifier in Tunis on Saturday, 14 November 2009.
The Welwitschia have been in Carcavelos, a suburb of the capital of Lisbon, since Monday, 2 November 2009. The visit to Portugal coincided with an invitation to participate in the SuperBock Portugal Rugby Cup on Saturday, 7 November 2009.
Namibia was the first of three nations to play Portugal in the SuperBock Rugby Cup in a match won by Namibia 12 – 9 in front of a crowd of almost 2 000 spectators. Argentina A and Tonga are due to play Portugal on 21 November and 28 November respectively.
“This was an important preparatory match for us. It allowed the team at least one match together as a unit right before our encounter in Tunisia”, said Head Coach John Williams.
“I am happy with their performance, as they showed great cohesion as a team. We spent the week since then focusing on preparing the guys mentally for what could be a testing match’, he added.
On announcing the team for the Tunisia clash, Williams reiterated the game objective - ‘we are going there to secure our place at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. I’ll accept nothing less.”
The team will have one practice run (captain’s run) in Tunis on Friday for the game on Saturday. Kick-off will be at 16:00 in Tunis at the Stade El Menzah.
Williams meanwhile announced a strong team that will represent Namibia on Saturday. The forwards consist of experienced players, all of whom represented Namibia at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. The backs include experienced players like centres Piet van Zyl and Tinus Venter, flyhalf Emile Wessels and scrumhalf Jurie van Tonder.
Prop Kees Lensing will captain the team, while coach Williams will be assisted by Hakkies Husselman.
The Namibian team is as follows:
15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Bradley Langenhoven, 13 Piet van Zyl, 12 Tinus Venter, 11 Heini Bock, 10 Emile Wessels, 9 Jurie van Tonder, 8 Tinus du Plessis, 7 Jacques Nieuwenhuis, 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Nico Esterhuizen, 4 Wacca Kazombiaze, 3 Jane du Toit, 2 Hugo Horn, 1 Kees Lensing (captain).
Reserves:
16 Shaun Esterhuizen, 17 Marius Visser, 18 Heinz Koll, 19 PJ van Lill, 20 Eugene Jantjies, 21 Robert Herridge, 22 David Philander.