Namibia gave a good account of itself at the Coca-Cola Academy Week in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng last week, as they won one, drew one and lost one of their three matches.
The U18 Academy Week forms part of the annual South African Coca-Cola Rugby Youth Week that sees schoolboys competing in four age group competitions, namely the U18 and U13 Craven Weeks, the U18 Academy Week and the U16 Grant Khomo Week.
The Academy Week is the biggest of the youth weeks, with 24 teams participating from all over South Africa, as well as Namibia and Zimbabwe. The tournament mainly serves to develop talent and for scouting purposes and is not at the same level as the Craven Week, but has produced several Springboks over the years.
They include mercurial fullback Willie le Roux, who represented Western Province in 2007; scrum halves Francois Hougaard (Western Province 2005) and Cobus Reinach (Free State 2008) and flanker Teboho Mohoje (Free State 2006).
Namibia’s tournament got off to a winning start when they beat the Blue Valke 29-19 on 6 July.
Namibia scored five tries through Pieter Steenkamp, Peter Diergaardt, Moranzel Strauss, Tobias van Zyl and Jan-Harm Cronje, while Steenkamp added two conversions. The Valke scored three tries and two conversions.
The following day Namibia took on the Pumas Country Districts side and after a close encounter the sides had to settle for a 21-all draw.
Both sides scored three tries and three conversions, with Lento Romanzo, Nepahere Kakaveri and Marius van Niekerk scoring Namibia’s tries, while Pieter Steenkamp converted all three.
Namibia were beaten 29-19 by Griquas in their final match on 9 July.
Griquas outscored Namibia by four tries to one, with Jan Harm Cronje scoring Namibia’s only try, while Pieter Steenkamp added two penalties and a conversion.
