Best Springboks coming to Namibia: De Villiers

SOUTH African Springbok rugby coach Peter de Villiers says he will bring his best players for their warm-up match against the Welwitschias at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek on May 29.

‘Namibia is the second best rugby-playing nation in Africa and playing them always provides incredibly good competition. They have a great deal of talent and we intend to bring our best players for the match. That is guaranteed,’ said the Bok coach at a media briefing yesterday.’We respect the Namibian team and we will play with our hearts. We want a good result and that’s what every coach wants,’ he added.The South Africans will use the match to prepare for their three-match series against the British Lions in South Africa in June and July, before they go into Tri-Nations matches against New Zealand and Australia later in the year.De Villiers, who believes that one often finds the biggest lessons in losing, says he will not take the Namibians lightly.’We are the current world champions and in every match we go out and play, we try to make it as tough as possible for the opposition and most importantly try to get the best possible result. We have to live up to our name and the Namibian rugby fans will surely want to see fantastic rugby on the day. We will give that to them,’ he said.De Villiers added that for the children, it is a wonderful feeling to go to the stadium with their parents and he thinks that it will be an awesome experience for both young and old when Namibia take on the Springboks.’The atmosphere during these matches is always electrifying and we want all the fans to be part of this wonderful experience,’ he said.Meanwhile, Namibian head coach John Williams has confirmed that all the players who played in the Rugby World Cup will be present.’We have made contact with the ones that are already competitive in foreign leagues and we hope that they will be ready for the match. Also, we will add more younger players to the squad to complement the experienced players,’ he said.Williams said he is happy with the progress of some of the Namibian internationals abroad and hopes that they will be sharp and ready for the match in May.SUPPORTDe Villiers said it is important for Namibians to support their team in each match and with the current feat of having qualified for three World Cups, the future only looks bright for Namibian rugby.’By coming to Namibia, we also want the Namibians to get behind their team and at the same time bring the best out of their players. It is just amazing how the experience and presence of world-renowned players such as the ones in the Springbok squad can rub off on younger players in the Namibian team. The Namibian players are surely guaranteed to learn from the Boks in a positive way,’ he said.Asked whether his players will don the full Springbok jersey on the day, De Villiers said they have not decided on that yet, but joked that ‘the jersey will be green because our blood is green’.Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) acting chief executive officer Christo Alexander says more details about ticket costs and sales and the marketing drive on the visit by the Boks will be revealed later. corry@namibian.com.na