Namibia national rugby union team

Namibia

Union

Namibia Rugby Union

Nickname(s)

Welwitschias

Emblem(s)

African fish eagle

Ground(s)

Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium

Coach(es)

Danie Vermeulen

Captain(s)

Jacques Burger

Most caps

Eugene Jantjies (36)

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 112 – 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, is a professional national rugby team. They are a tier-three nation in the International Rugby Board (IRB) tier system, and have participated in four 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. As of 29 July 2013 they are ranked 23rd in the world.^[1]

History

Rugby union has been played in Namibia 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. One of Namibia's players, Andre Stoop was signed by English champion rugby league club, Wigan.

During the international seasons Namibia played six games; the first of which was a 55–23 win over Zimbabwe. Following another victory 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.^[2] 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 African Great Lakes nation, and another to Tunisia. Following the Kenya loss, the Namibian squad slumped to 28th in the IRB rankings. However, after defeating Tunisia at home, the team was effectively through to two deciding matches against Morocco, to determine which of the two African nations would make it to France in 2007. Namibia convincingly won both legs, qualifying for the World Cup.

As the lowest ranked team at the start of the 2007 World Cup, Namibia was given no chance in its opening game of against Ireland. However, the Namibian squad frustrated Ireland, then the 5th ranked team in the world, and scored two tries for its 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 the IRB Nations Cup in 2010.

Namibia achieved their fourth World Cup qualification in a row after defeating Côte d'Ivoire 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 an 87-0 loss to South Africa. In their final pool game, Wales proved to be too strong, as Namibia conceded 12 tries in an 81-7 defeat. Theuns Kotzé 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

World Cup record								World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Not invited							-
1991	Did not enter							Did not enter
1995	Did not qualify							6	4	1	1	218	104
1999	Pool Stage	3	0	0	3	42	186	5	4	0	1	127	78
2003	Pool Stage	4	0	0	4	28	310	4	3	0	1	197	73
2007	Pool Stage	4	0	0	4	30	212	6	4	0	2	192	96
2011	Pool Stage	4	0	0	4	44	266	4	3	1	0	115	58
2015	Qualified							7	5	0	2	289	159
2019	To be determined							To be determined
Total	5/8	15	0	0	15	144	974	32	23	2	7	1138	568

Record

World Rugby Rankings
Top 25 Rankings as 4 May 2015^[3]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	93.70
2		South Africa	88.23
3		Ireland	85.76
4		England	85.40
5		Wales	84.07
6		Australia	82.95
7		France	79.74
8		Argentina	78.23
9		Samoa	75.39
10		Scotland	74.79
11		Japan	74.70
12		Fiji	74.57
13		Tonga	74.12
14		Georgia	72.16
15		Italy	71.85
16		United States	67.61
17		Canada	66.83
18		Romania	66.23
19		Russia	64.65
20		Uruguay	63.58
21		Spain	62.59
22	1	South Korea	58.38
23	1	Namibia	58.27
24	1	Portugal	57.40
25		Belgium	56.47
*Change from the previous week
Namibia's Historical Rankings

Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 27 April 2015^[3]

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Namibia national XV at test level up until 31 March 2015.^[4]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Arabian Gulf	1	1	0	0	100%	64	20	+44
Argentina	2	0	2	0	0%	17	130	-113
Australia	1	0	1	0	0%	0	142	-142
Canada	2	0	2	0	0%	24	89	-65
Fiji	2	0	2	0	0%	43	116	-73
France	4	0	4	0	0%	59	183	-124
Georgia	4	1	3	0	25%	57	95	-38
Germany	2	2	0	0	100%	137	33	+104
Hong Kong	1	1	0	0	100.%	22	12	+10
Ireland	4	2	2	0	50%	65	117	-52
Italy	3	2	1	0	66.67%	74	75	-1
Ivory Coast	4	2	1	1	50%	101	50	+51
Kenya	8	6	2	0	75%	382	142	+240
Madagascar	4	3	1	0	75%	310	84	+226
Morocco	7	4	2	1	57.14%	133	137	-4
Portugal	7	5	2	0	71.43%	229	125	+104
Romania	4	1	3	0	25%	55	95	-40
Russia	2	0	2	0	0%	27	61	-34
Samoa	2	0	2	0	0%	25	89	-64
Senegal	3	3	0	0	100%	68	40	+28
South Africa	2	0	2	0	0%	13	192	-179
Spain	3	1	2	0	33.33%	93	77	+16
Tonga	1	0	1	0	0%	14	20	-6
Tunisia	8	5	3	0	62.50%	175	138	+37
Uganda	2	1	1	0	50%	96	33	+63
Uruguay	1	0	1	0	0%	12	23	-11
Wales	4	0	4	0	0%	69	171	-102
West Germany	1	1	0	0	100%	54	7	+47
Zambia	2	2	0	0	100%	132	20	+112
Zimbabwe	27	25	2	0	92.59%	943	551	+392
Total	118	68	48	2	57.63%	3493	3067	+426

Current squad

Namibia squad for their 2014 end-of-years tests against Germany (29 Oct), Canada (7 Nov), French Barbarians (14 Nov) and Portugal (22 Nov).^[5]

Stefan Neustadt was added to the squad to replace Nico Esterhuyse, who injured himself in training forcing him out of the 3-test European tour.^[6]

On 17 November, Quintin Esterhuyzen and Shaun de Preez were called up an injury replacements for Johnny Redelinghuys and André Schlechter.

Head Coach: Danie Vermeulen
Caps Updated: 10 November 2014

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player	Position	Date of Birth (Age)	Caps	Club/province
Rathony Becker	Hooker	(1991-02-14) 14 February 1991	9	Western Suburbs
Torsten van Jaarsveld	Hooker	(1987-06-30) 30 June 1987	2	Free State Cheetahs
Neil Rautenbach	Hooker	(1991-05-17) 17 May 1991	0	Western Province
Franklin Bertolini	Prop	(1990-09-27) 27 September 1990	2	United
Jaco Engels	Prop	(1980-12-17) 17 December 1980	8	United
Quintin Esterhuyzen	Prop	(1994-09-05) 5 September 1994	0	Wanderers
Shaun du Preez	Prop	(1987-07-22) 22 July 1987	4	Wanderers
Johnny Redelinghuys	Prop	(1984-02-02) 2 February 1984	42	Wanderers
André Schlechter	Prop	(1986-10-13) 13 October 1986	11	Wanderers
Casper Viviers	Prop	(1988-06-01) 1 June 1988	6	Saint-Nazaire
Morné Blom	Lock	(1989-04-25) 25 April 1989	14	Wanderers
Nico Esterhuyse	Lock	(1984-03-05) 5 March 1984	31	Wanderers
Stefan Neustadt	Lock	(1991-07-31) 31 July 1991	7	United
Tjiuee Uanivi	Lock	(1990-12-31) 31 December 1990	2	Brive
DG Wiese	Lock	(1994-02-16) 16 February 1994	2	United
Jacques Burger (c)	Flanker	(1983-07-29) 29 July 1983	30	Saracens
Thomasau Forbes	Flanker	(1988-10-12) 12 October 1988	4	Western Suburbs
Rohan Kitshoff	Flanker	(1985-09-13) 13 September 1985	18	Western Province
Tinus du Plessis	Flanker	(1984-05-20) 20 May 1984	39	Wanderers
PJ van Lill	Number 8	(1983-12-04) 4 December 1983	32	Dax
Eniell Buitendag	Scrum-half	(1989-06-21) 21 June 1989	9	Wanderers
Ryan de la Harpe	Scrum-half	(1982-09-02) 2 September 1982	8	Fylde
Shaun Kaizemi	Fly-half	(1988-06-14) 14 June 1988	2	Western Suburbs
Theuns Kotzé	Fly-half	(1987-07-16) 16 July 1987	18	Bourge-en-Bresse
Johan Deysel	Centre	(1991-09-26) 26 September 1991	6	Leopards
JC Greyling	Centre	(1991-06-21) 21 June 1991	1	Old Wesley
Darryl de la Harpe	Centre	(1986-10-02) 2 October 1986	23	Western Suburbs
David Philander	Centre	(1987-01-04) 4 January 1987	17	Spotswood United
Danie Dames	Wing	(1986-02-07) 7 February 1986	10	Griquas
Malcolm Moore	Wing	(1992-10-13) 13 October 1992	2	Wanderers
Johan Tromp	Wing	(1990-12-23) 23 December 1990	10	Wanderers
Chrysander Botha	Fullback	(1988-07-13) 13 July 1988	29	Exeter Chiefs
Russell van Wyk	Fullback	(1990-08-12) 12 August 1990	0	University of Namibia