NAMIBIAN rugby players in South Africa continue to perform at the top level, with Jacques Burger at the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Wikus Blaauw at the Stormers currently playing in the Super 14.
Burger joined the Bulls last year after he had a stint in France for the first six months of 2008 and is expected to replace Bulls and Springbok loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg on the substitutes bench. Wannenburg will start.The Namibian utility loose forward played in the World Cup in 2007 and previously also turned out for Griquas in South Africa from 2005 until 2007.Blaauw has never turned out for Namibia, but will play for the Stormers this season and is currently in their first squad.Shaun Esterhuizen and Andre Schlechter are two other players linked to the Stormers side.Also with the Blue Bulls in South Africa is TC Loubser, also Namibian national team member. Other players in South Africa include Piet van Zyl, who turns out for the Cheetahs, while Nico Esterhuizen turns out for Boland which competes in the Vodacom Cup.Yesterday, Namibian national team coach John Williams confirmed that Burger might start from the bench in the Bulls’ clash against the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.Williams said there are also several Namibian players in overseas leagues such as in Romania, France and England.Namibian World Cup scrumhalf, Eugene Jantjies, born at Gobabis and who made his debut against Georgia at the World Cup in 2007, plays in the Romanian first division.Another Namibian, Bradley Langenhoven, plays for Germany’s SC 1880 Frankfurt side as a wing or at centre.Namibian 2007 World Cup squad captain Kees Lensing is back in France in the lower divisions there after he also played for the Bulls and Sharks in South Africa earlier.Lensing is nearing the end of his career and also played in Australia during the 2003 World Cup.PLAYERS CALLEDWilliams appealed to parents and any individuals who know about any Namibian players in either South Africa or any foreign leagues to provide information to the union.’We want to set up a database of all our players playing outside the country and we would also like to test them for the national teams in future,’ he said.Namibia will this year play its first World Cup qualifier for the 2011 competition in an away leg against Ivory Coast on June 13, before they meet the same side in a return leg on June 27 in Windhoek.Before that, Namibia will play a friendly match against the South African Defence Force side on May 9, while a South African Coastal side is also due to play a match on June 6. Both matches will be played at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek. corry@namibian.com.na
