Huge battle in store

The Namibian Welwitschias face their toughest test of the season so far when they take on Italy in a rugby test match at the Hage Geingob Stadium at 15h00 this afternoon. 

Italy enter the match as firm favourites with a world ranking of 10th compared to Namibia’s 25th, while they also thumped Namibia 52-8 the last time they met at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The match forms part of Italy’s southern Africa tour that will see them taking on the Springboks in Pretoria next weekend, and they have selected a strong squad with all 15 of today’s starting lineup being full test internationals and only three of the 23-man squad yet to make their debut for the senior side.

The team is captained by hooker Giacomo Nicotera and includes experienced stalwarts like flanker Sebastian Negri, prop Danilo Fischetti, and lock Niccolo Canone, who all have more than 50 caps, while flanker Manuel Zuliani and scrumhalf Stephen Varney have more than 30 caps.

The ‘Azzurri’ come off a promising campaign in the Six Nations where they beat Wales 22-15, recording back-to-back victories against Wales for the first time, while eight of those players are in their tour squad.

Nine of their players play for top Italian club side, Benetton, which had their most successful campaign in the United Rugby Championship to date, winning nine of their 18 matches to finish 10th overall. Some of these victories came against powerhouses like the Sharks (38-10), the Lions (42-31), Edinburgh (21-18), and last year’s URC champions, Glasgow Warriors (33-7).

With so much experience in their ranks, it will be a huge challenge for Namibia, who have only had two warm-up matches, beating Uganda 22-19 and losing 59-19 to the Pumas.

The Namibian squad has been strengthened by the return of world cup veterans, prop Aranos Coetzee and hooker Louis van der Westhuizen, as well as lock Johan Retief and flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel, who also represented Namibia at the 2023 world cup.

Despite being the underdogs, Namibia’s interim coach Jacques Burger said they are up for the challenge.

“Our preparations have gone very well – the cold weather is here which will probably suit Italy better than us, but we are building something good in this squad. We’ve had two tough games but this will be the toughest one. However, we are very excited and looking forward to the challenge – our goal is to win and to make our nation proud,” he said.

“There were a lot of positives from the Pumas match – we were only 26-14 behind at halftime, against a team that beat us 81-8 the last time. We conceded a few soft tries, but we are improving with each match and Italy is another step up which will give us a better idea of where we are,” he said.

“Italy are preparing for the Springboks next weekend and they have a very strong pack of forwards, but we have strengthened our front row with the return of Aranos and Louis. We expect them to come out at full force and we are looking forward to a great game,” he said.

Burger called on the Namibian public to come out in big numbers to support the team.

“Seating on the open stand will be free for children, while students only need to pay N$100. We want as many people as possible and they should preferably wear blue to support the team,” he said.

The teams are as follows:

Italy:
15. Jacopo Trulla, 14. Paolo Odogwu, 13. Tommaso Menoncello, 12. Leonardo Marin, 11. Simone Gesi, 10. Giacomo Da Re, 9. Alessandro Fusco, 8. Ross Vintcent, 7. Manuel Zuliani, 6. Sebastian Negri, 5. Riccardo Favretto, 4. Niccolo Canone, 3. Marco Riccioni, 2. Giacomo Nicotera (captain), 1. Danilo Fischetti.

Substitutes:
16. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17. Mirco Spagnolo, 18. Muhamed Hasa, 19. Andrea Zambonin, 20. Lorenzo Cannone, 21. Stephen Varney, 22. Giulio Bertaccini, 23. Mirko Belloni.

Namibia:
15. Andre van der Berg, 14. Danie van der Merwe, 13. Alcino Izaacs, 12. Danco Burger, 11. Jurgen Meyer, 10. Tiaan Swanepoel, 9. Jacques Theron, 8. Adriaan Booysen, 7. Max Katjijeko, 6. Prince !Gaoseb (captain), 5. Johan Retief, 4. Adriaan Ludick, 3. Aranos Coetzee, 2. Louis van der Westhuizen, 1. Haitembu Shikufa.

Substitutes:
16. Armand Combrinck, 17. Jason Benade, 18. Sidney Halupe, 19. Ruan Ludick, 20. Johan Luttig, 21. Peter Diergaardt, 22. Oela Blaauw, 23. Quirione Majiedt.

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