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)

Phil Davies

Captain(s)

Jacques Burger

Most caps

Johnny Redelinghuys (50)

Top scorer

Theuns Kotzé (344)

Most tries

Gerhard Mans (27)

Team kit

Change kit

First international

South West Africa 0 – 9 British 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

5 (First in 1999)

Best result

Namibia 16 - 17 Georgia, 2015

The Namibia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Welwitschias or Biltongboere, are a tier-two nation in the World Rugby tier system, and have participated in five 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 20 June 2016 they are ranked 21st in the world.^[1]

History

1990s

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 1988 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 the 1991 Rugby World Cup. 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.

2000–present

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.

The Welwitschias played the 2015 Vodacom Cup, collecting six defeats and one win against the Limpopo Blue Bulls. Namibia qualified for their fourth Rugby World Cup in 2015. They were placed in Pool C with New Zealand, Georgia, Tonga and Argentina.

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	Pool Stage	4	0	0	4	70	174	7	5	0	2	289	159
Total	5/8	19	0	0	19	214	1148	32	23	2	7	1138	568

Record

World Rugby Rankings
Top 30 rankings as of 21 August 2017^[3]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	95.21
2		England	90.14
3		Ireland	85.39
4	1	South Africa	84.51
5	1	Australia	84.21
6		Scotland	82.47
7		Wales	81.73
8		France	79.63
9	1	Fiji	79.48
10	1	Argentina	79.15
11		Japan	73.79
12		Georgia	73.41
13		Tonga	71.72
14		Italy	71.00
15		Romania	70.27
16		Samoa	69.67
17		United States	65.84
18		Uruguay	63.15
19		Spain	63.15
20		Russia	63.13
21		Namibia	61.40
22		Germany	59.78
23		Canada	59.47
24		Hong Kong	58.85
25		Kenya	57.36
26		Portugal	57.26
27		Belgium	56.94
28		Chile	54.76
29		Brazil	54.50
30		Switzerland	53.63
*Change from the previous week
Namibia's historical rankings

Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 20 February 2017^[3]

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Namibia national XV at test level up until 1 August 2017.^[4]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Arabian Gulf	1	1	0	0	100.00%	64	20	+44
Argentina	3	0	3	0	0.00%	36	194	-158
Argentina Jaguars	1	0	1	0	0.00%	13	47	-34
Australia	1	0	1	0	0.00%	0	142	-142
Canada	2	0	2	0	0.00%	24	89	-65
Fiji	2	0	2	0	0.00%	43	116	-73
France	2	0	2	0	0.00%	23	134	-111
France XV	2	0	2	0	0.00%	36	49	-13
Georgia	5	1	4	0	20.00%	73	112	-39
Germany	2	2	0	0	100.00%	137	33	+104
Hong Kong	1	1	0	0	100.00%	22	12	+10
Ireland	4	2	2	0	50.00%	65	117	-52
Italy	3	2	1	0	66.67%	74	75	-1
Ivory Coast	4	2	1	1	50.00%	101	50	+51
Kenya	10	8	2	0	80.00%	491	173	+318
Madagascar	4	3	1	0	75.00%	310	84	+226
Morocco	7	4	2	1	57.14%	133	137	-4
New Zealand	1	0	1	0	0.00%	14	58	-44
Portugal	7	5	2	0	71.43%	229	125	+104
Romania	6	1	5	0	16.67%	66	158	-92
Russia	5	2	3	0	40.00%	121	116	+5
Samoa	2	0	2	0	0.00%	25	89	-64
Scotland A	1	1	0	0	0.00%	23	20	+3
Senegal	4	4	0	0	100.00%	163	40	+123
South Africa	2	0	2	0	0.00%	13	192	-179
Spain	6	2	4	0	33.33%	143	144	-1
Tonga	2	0	2	0	0.00%	35	55	-20
Tunisia	10	7	3	0	70.00%	250	159	+91
Uganda	4	3	1	0	75.00%	184	88	+96
Uruguay	1	0	1	0	0.00%	12	23	-11
Wales	4	0	4	0	0.00%	69	171	-102
West Germany	1	1	0	0	100.00%	54	7	+47
Zambia	2	2	0	0	100.00%	132	20	+112
Zimbabwe	31	28	3	0	90.32%	1140	637	+503
Total	143	82	59	2	57.34%	4318	3686	+632

Current squad

Namibia's 28-man squad for the 2017 World Rugby Nations Cup are as follows:^[5]

Head Coach: Phil Davies
Caps Updated: 17 May 2017

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

Player	Position	Date of Birth (Age)	Caps	Club/province
du Preez, ShaunShaun du Preez	Hooker	(1987-07-22) 22 July 1987	5	Welwitschias
van der Westhuizen, LouisLouis van der Westhuizen	Hooker	(1995-02-25) 25 February 1995	9	Leopards
van Jaarsveld, TorstenTorsten van Jaarsveld	Hooker	(1987-06-30) 30 June 1987	12	Cheetahs
Coetzee, AranosAranos Coetzee	Prop	(1988-03-14) 14 March 1988	11	Cheetahs
de Klerk, AJAJ de Klerk	Prop	(1987-12-19) 19 December 1987	12	Welwitschias
Smith, CollenCollen Smith	Prop	(1991-09-02) 2 September 1991	6	Welwitschias
Viviers, CasperCasper Viviers	Prop	(1988-06-01) 1 June 1988	20	Bobigny
Ludick, RuanRuan Ludick	Lock	(1994-09-07) 7 September 1994	4	Merthyr
Tjeriko, MahepisaMahepisa Tjeriko	Lock		0	Welwitschias
Uanivi, TjiueeTjiuee Uanivi	Lock	(1990-12-31) 31 December 1990	18	London Scottish
Venter, JancoJanco Venter	Lock	(1994-09-19) 19 September 1994	15	Maties
Bothma, RenaldoRenaldo Bothma (c)	Flanker	(1989-09-18) 18 September 1989	13	Bulls
Conradie, WianWian Conradie	Flanker	(1994-10-14) 14 October 1994	4	UJ
van Lill, PJPJ van Lill	Flanker	(1983-12-04) 4 December 1983	43	Bayonne
Retief, JohanJohan Retief	Flanker	(1995-10-10) 10 October 1995	0	NWU Pukke
van der Merwe, ChristoChristo van der Merwe	Flanker	(1995-01-05) 5 January 1995	2	Hamiltons
Jantjies, EugeneEugene Jantjies	Scrum-half	(1986-10-08) 8 October 1986	53	Welwitschias
Stevens, DamianDamian Stevens	Scrum-half	(1995-06-02) 2 June 1995	6	Sharks XV
Kotzé, TheunsTheuns Kotzé	Fly-half	(1987-07-16) 16 July 1987	34	Boland Cavaliers
Loubser, ClivenCliven Loubser	Fly-half	(1997-02-24) 24 February 1997	0	Sharks U19
de la Harpe, DarrylDarryl de la Harpe	Centre	(1986-10-02) 2 October 1986	33	Welwitschias
Deysel, JohanJohan Deysel	Centre	(1991-09-26) 26 September 1991	16	Sharks
Greyling, JCJC Greyling	Centre	(1991-06-21) 21 June 1991	15	Welwitschias
Newman, JustinJustin Newman	Centre	(1995-02-17) 17 February 1995	0	NWU Pukke
Klim, LesleyLesley Klim	Wing	(1995-01-16) 16 January 1995	0	Welwitschias
Wilson, GinoGino Wilson	Wing	(1996-03-21) 21 March 1996	5	Welwitschias
Botha, ChrysanderChrysander Botha	Fullback	(1988-07-13) 13 July 1988	41	Kings
Tromp, JohannJohann Tromp	Fullback	(1990-12-23) 23 December 1990	26	Kings