‘Journey not over’ – Theron

Despite Namibia’s 30-28 defeat to Zimbabwe in the Africa Cup final on Saturday, their journey to the 2027 Rugby World Cup is far from over, according to Namibia Rugby Union president Petri Theron. 

At a press conference yesterday, Theron thanked everyone involved in Namibia’s effort, saying that they are still fully focused on qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

“Over the past weeks, Namibia once again stood tall, and the guys fought hard, but we just missed out on that automatic qualification for the World Cup by two points. While we fell short in the final against Zimbabwe, I want to first acknowledge the tireless efforts of our coaching staff, support team, and above all, our players who gave their all on the field,” he said.

“This result is naturally disappointing for us all; however, let me assure you—our journey is not over. Namibia remains firmly in the hunt for qualification to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia,” he added.

Saturday’s result saw Zimbabwe qualifying for the Rugby World Cup for the first time since 1991, while Namibia will now have to progress through two more qualifying rounds if they hope to make it to Australia in two years’ time. First up, they will take on the runners-up of the Asia qualifier, the UAE, in Kampala this coming Saturday, and if they win that match, they will go through to a final repechage tournament in Dubai in November.

Theron said the team is now preparing for the UAE match on Saturday.

“The team has remained in Kampala and will this weekend play the UAE for that final position in the repechage tournament in Dubai in November, which will be a four-team round-robin competition where all the teams will play each other, while the team with the most points will qualify for the World Cup,” he said.

“The teams that have already qualified for Dubai are Brazil, who came third in the South America Rugby Championship; Canada, the loser of the South America/Pacific play-off; and Belgium, who came fifth in the 2025 Rugby Europe Championship. Then either Namibia or UAE will take that last place at the repechage tournament, and we are confident that it will be our team that will carry the flag for us,” he added.

Theron said their squad is determined to overcome the odds stacked against them.

“We understand the immense responsibility that comes with this opportunity. Our players and management are fully committed to regrouping, reassessing, and reigniting our campaign. The journey to Australia is far from over—it merely enters its final and most critical chapter,” he said.

“We’ve got full belief in our team; they are building up experience, they have a nice blend of experience and youth coming through, and we’ve had at least three of our U20s participating in this tournament, so they are building up massive experience. Lessons were learned and I firmly believe that this team will make us proud on Saturday and qualify for that last competition,” he added.

“There are one or two injuries in the team, but apart from that, the players are ready to go. They immediately put their hands up after the Zimbabwe game and said they are going to do this for us. There’s full commitment from the coaching team as well as the players, and we are happy to see that. That’s the fighting spirit that Namibians are known for and what we are made of, so we are confident that we will pull this one through,” he said.

Theron also supported Namibia’s coaching staff, headed by director of rugby Jacques Burger and including several other local coaches who are all experienced World Cup players, although they are relatively inexperienced as coaches.

“We don’t need international coaches. We’ve got extremely good coaches now who have all played in multiple World Cups. Some of them have coached at World Cup level as assistant coaches already. At some stage, we can’t keep on appointing international coaches, and we need to believe in our own coaches,” he said.

“If we were beaten badly, it would be a different situation, but basically, a few small decisions made on the field by the players made a difference in this game. Two points could have gone the other way, and we could have won the match if that last penalty kick went over, so we firmly believe and put our trust in this coaching team. They’re good enough, and by the time we reach Australia, which is our goal, they will be much more experienced,” he said.

Theron said they are already planning ahead for the next decade.

“If the team does not reach Australia, we will look ahead to 2031. We’ve already started looking at our structures over the last two years, and we’re in the process of rebuilding our junior rugby. And as you’ve seen, the fruits of our labour are starting to come through. We won the Barthes Cup for the first time in four years again, and when your junior rugby is sound, your senior rugby becomes sound as well. Our u13, u16 and u18 national teams are also starting to look better, and we are grateful that school rugby is now in line with us. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be having some very interesting conversations around our junior rugby with some sponsors as well, and we are excited about that,” he said.

“The whole idea is to understand that you need to build foundations. We are not just working for 2027; we’re looking at 2031 and even 2035—we are starting to lay those foundations today, and we will reap the rewards for that,” he added.

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