RWC Review: No. 20 Namibia

[M Two One]

The 2011 Rugby World Cup has ended and unfortunately for the rugby faithful, this means that we'll have to wait four years once again, but don't be disappointed, this was a special tournament. New Zealand hosted this time around, and with that, we realize that we may not see the rugby mad country host again for a very long time.

We hope that you all savored every moment and every match, no matter what the outcomes were, the disappointments or heartache. What impressed us the most is how well second tier nations developed over the past four years, which is great news for the sport on a worldwide scale.

Development is the key to this game, as any, and this world cup has opened the door to a large number of new fans.

As we take a look back, Shaggy, psychic duck and M Two One review the twenty participants from worst to first over the next week. The rankings were put together through several opinions based on performances.

Feel free to debate and discuss. The 2011 Rugby World Cup may have ended, but rugby lives on 24/7.

It may seem harsh that Namibia is ranked last, but the reality is that while the Rugby World Cup has generally closed the gap in terms of competitiveness of teams and score line margins, none of Namibia's games were that close. This ranking is no slight on the Welwitschias considering the uphill battle they faced in this tournament.

Namibia was drawn to play in pool D, where the "D" could well have stood for death. Fiji, Samoa, South Africa and Wales were the other teams that made up this pool and they all rated their chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals fairly high. They also all realised that bonus point wins, by scoring four tries, might prove crucial, and as a result, they fielded strong sides that in most cases put Namibia to the sword.

The Welwitschias faced the same scheduling problems that most of the tier two and three nations faced, playing all four of their matches within a 16 day window, but to their credit, they pretty much fielded their strongest team available on each occasion. It's hard to know whether they targeted any particular game for a win, but the sad thing is that the pool draw pretty much prevented them from achieving their first Rugby World cup win ever at this tournament, even before it had begun.

The aim for the team was probably to raise the profile of the team, that being to secure regular test matches for the side and to raise the profile of the individual players. If this was the aim, it was probably a success as the team itself was made up of mostly amateurs drawn from a small number players playing domestically, along with only 12 professional players. While still convincingly beaten in all of the matches they played, Namibia were very competitive in the set pieces.

While the team as a whole showed a lot of heart, Jacques Berger was captain courageous by leading from the front, throwing himself into the breakdowns, and, as an openside flanker, was nothing short of world class having made the more tackles than any other player after the group stages. Heinz Koll was his side's top try scorer for the tournament, with two. His second try against Wales was scored from a long way out as result of a great running display, combining with his locking partner Nico Esterhuyse, to get over the line. The sight of two tight forwards roaming freely and having the pace to finish the job is a great sight for anyone who has ever played in the tight forwards. Theuns Kotze was their top point scorer, scoring 24 points during the world cup, including three drop goals in four minutes against Fiji. He is a young player that hopefully will go on to bigger and better things for Namibia at the fly half position.

Namibia is arguably the most under resourced of all of the unions that attended the tournament, yet have consistently shown that they are the number two playing nation on the African continent. While South Africa is far too strong for them, tier two nations should be encouraged from elsewhere to play against Namibia on a regular basis if they are to improve and secure that elusive first World cup win in the near future. - S

 

[james5000]

I know nobody has ever mentioned him, but I thought Tinus du Plessis was as good as any Namibian player against both South Africa and Wales, which were the only Namibian games I watched.

Theuns Kotze was terrible in those games, he must have been better against Fiji and Samoa.