Rugby

The future of rugby in Namibia was plunged into uncertainty with the announcement that the Namibia Rugby Union is insolvent and that its employees have been retrenched.

Furthermore, Namibia’s participation in the Vodacom Cup has come to an end while the appointment of a national coach has been postponed indefinitely.

These were just some of the grim realities painted by the NRU’s Interim Committee in a press release issued on Tuesday.

An announcement regarding the future of Namibian rugby will be made on Monday, January 30, specifically with regards to the new national coach and Namibia’s participation in the Vodacom Cup.

According to the chairman of the Interim Committee, Danie Strauss, the NRU’s financial statements have been handed in, which was a prerequisite for starting the process of electing a new executive committee.

“The audited financial statements should be ready by Friday, so we will be able to start the process of electing a new executive committee then,” he said.

Namibian flanker Tinus du Plessis, who was recently signed by English Premier League club Wasps, has already set his sights on going toe-to-toe with compatriot and national team captain Jacques Burger.

According to Wasps’ official website the 27-year-old Du Plessis, who previously had a spell in England with Rotherham, can't wait for the Premiership encounter with Saracens.

"We were room-mates," Du Plessis told the official Wasps site. "I already had some grief from him on Monday when Wasps lost, with some texts coming through.

Rugby draws praise in defeat

Namibia’s national rugby team performed on the biggest stage in the world when they competed at their fourth successive Rugby World Cup in September 2011.

The team had gone with high hopes of recording their first ever victory at the World Cup but it was not to be as they once again lost all their matches.

In the end the stark truth remained that Namibia had a largely amateur team taking on the world’s best professional outfits.

Saracens flanker and Namibian captain Jacques Burger has called on England to arrange midweek fixtures against Namibia during their three-Test summer tour of South Africa in 2012.

England are expected to travel with around 45 players and play at least two tour matches in between the Tests against the Springboks. Last year, England played the Australian Barbarians twice and the New Zealand Maori in similar fixtures during their summer tour.

An eight-man team was on Saturday elected as the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) interim executive committee

The committee according to Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) commissioner for rugby, Piet du Plooy will be in charge of rugby for the next four months.

“The eight member committee will be tasked to look at the road ahead in terms of facilities, looking at the debt the rugby union incurred, planning for the league and planning the new AGM (Annual General Meeting),” Du Plooy said.

Namibia and Morocco have been relegated to Division 1B of the Confederation of African Rugby Cup, after both countries failed to turn up for the finals of the CAR Cup in Nairobi last weekend.

The only participating teams were Tunisia and the hosts, Kenya, who played the final on Saturday, with Kenya emerging as the new African champions after a 16-7 victory.

Both Namibia and Morocco cited financial constraints for their non-appearance at the finals, but this did not go down well in Kenya where there were calls for both countries to be banned.

National rugby coach Johan Diergaardt on Wednesday announced a 35-man national rugby squad which will start training for the 2012 Vodacom Cup on Monday, November 14.

Although Diergaardt already confirmed that he will not renew his contract as national coach at the end of 2011, he said that he could not leave the players in the lurch and that it was his duty to prepare them for next year’s Vodacom Cup campaign.

The executive committee of the Namibia Rugby Union resigned en masse on Thursday ahead of a planned annual general meeting that was supposed to take place on Saturday morning.

The vice president of the NRU Sarel Losper told Namibia Sport that they had decided to step down in the interests of Namibian rugby, but that there were four main reasons for their resignation.

Firstly, the proposed AGM would have been unconstitutional since it would have taken place before the required 45 days that clubs needed to be informed about it.

Ten winners of the Heineken Rugby World Cup competition left Windhoek on Tuesday for New Zealand where they will watch the final between New Zealand and France in Auckland on Sunday.

The nine day trip includes all expenses paid accommodation at a five star hotel in Auckland.

A variety of activities will be offered to the group including a luxury yacht cruise to Waiheke Island.