2023-09-20 22:57:40
We’re not really surprised, but we still feel a little bad for them. One, because it is difficult to expect from a selection which has never won a single World Cup match in its history during its first five participations that it will sublimate the sixth time. Two, because conceding 123 points and eighteen tries to launch your 2023 World Cup never feels good. Even when our name is Namibia and we are used to having a few good fights every four years.
After a 52-8 against Italy in Saint-Étienne and a 71-3 inflicted by the All Blacks in Toulouse, the rugby players from this southern African country continue their tour of France via Marseille and a match against the organizing country on Thursday evening (9 p.m.). The poster looks like the correction announced, especially since the Blues are bringing out the big team after the rugby mush produced by the replacements a week ago against Uruguay.
“We don’t often get the opportunity to play against these teams”
“It’s incredible for our players to face the best,” said Namibia’s South African coach, Allister Coetzee. That’s one of our goals: to make sure the team grows, especially against Tier 1 nations (the best teams in the world). We don’t often get the opportunity to play against these teams, so it’s important for us. »
So just to ensure that everyone gets a good taste of this high level, the Namibian coach has made nine changes to his starting team. Entering in the very last moments against the New Zealanders, scrum half Jacques Theron is one of the beneficiaries of this rotation. “I can’t wait to show what I can do and what I have in my stomach. Facing Dupont, one of the best known players today, it will be fun and I will learn a lot, underlines the number nine. If he can give me a tip or two, that would be great. »
VIDEO. “Objective champions”, the support song for the French XV which is already a hit
Namibian rugby is there, hoping to benefit from the light of the big teams in a competition, where it seems to be the weakest with Romania. “I believe that people do not realize the challenges that Namibian rugby players must face,” defends his coach. There are less than 1,000 licensees. Players work full time. Some had to quit their jobs to play in the World Cup. Others drive five hours to train and five hours to get home. »
“We are an entirely amateur federation”
“We are an entirely amateur federation,” continues Coetzee. For a country of 2.6 million people, finances are always a challenge. » For this World Cup in France, the staff is pleased to have recently had an analyst and a nutritionist. But while waiting for a hypothetical franchise project to one day rub its elements against the elite of the Southern Hemisphere, the Namibians are suffering against the big guys. While promising at least a little spectacle.
“We’re not going to achieve anything if we take penalties. We are going to go into touch and try to score tries, warns their captain Johan Deysel before facing the Blues. That’s rugby. That’s what spectators like. » Unless this helps Namibia win.
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