Namibia take on Emerging Italy

NAMIBIA’S national rugby team take on Emerging Italy in their final match at the Nations Cup in Bucharest on Saturday afternoon.

Namibia are currently second in Pool A after losing 20-8 to Romania and beating Spain 32-30. The Argentina XV lead the group on 10 points followed by Namibia on five and Uruguay on zero points.

Emerging Italy beat Uruguay 26-24 in their opening match before losing 40-30 to Argentina XV. They are currently second in Pool B on five points, behind Romania (9) and above Spain (2).

Namibian coach Phil Davies has made four changes to the team that beat Spain, bringing in Ruan Ludick at lock in place of Tjiuee Uanivi; Rohan Kitshoff at flank in place of Wian Conradie; Darryl de la Harpe at centre in place of JC Greyling; and Malcolm Moore at wing in place of Russel van Wyk.

The team is led by eighthman Renaldo Bothma and includes a fine mix of experience and exciting new talents.

Flanker Tinus du Plessis is the most experienced player and will pay his 51st test for Namibia, while other experienced players include full back Johann Tromp (24 caps), centre Darryl de la Harpe (30 caps) and fly half Theuns Kotze (31 caps).

Some of the upcoming new players include lock Ruan Ludick who will be making his international debut, hooker Gerhard Lotter (2 caps) and wing Gino Wilson (2 caps).

Davies said their preparation had gone well and that they were looking forward to the match.

“Our preparation over the past two weeks has gone very nicely, the squad has gelled well and those players who are touring with the national team for the first time have done reasonably well and enjoyed there first taste of international rugby,” he said.

“The spirit in the squad has been very good, with players and staff enjoying each others company. The atmosphere at the stadium has been great, with six international teams here including ourselves, and its been very good to see a Namibian team in these surroundings,” he added.

Davies said they expect a tough challenge from the Italian side.

“The Italian game is going to be a tough one, they are very experienced and possess mainly professional and semi professional players – however our boys are ready and excited by the challenge,” he said.

Davies said the Nations Cup was an important tournament that helped Namibia improve its standards.

“The standard of play has been very good – the main thing for Namibia is to continue building on last years World Cup performance in order to push our standards higher and higher each year. 

“Results are always important, however at the moment improving our standards is taking priority. If we get our performance standards to a higher and more consistent level, the results will ultimately take care of themselves,” he said.

Namibia’s match against Emerging Italy will start at 16h00 Namibian time and can be followed via livestreaming at RugbyTv.Ro

The Namibian team is as follows:

Johann Tromp, Gino Wilson, Darryl de la Harpe, Johan Deysel, Malcolm Moore, Theuns Kotze, Damian Stvens, Casper Viviers, Gert Lotter, Aranos Coetzee, Ruan Ludick, Janco Venter, Rohan Kitshoff, Tinus du Plessis and Renaldo Bothma.

Substitutes:

Shaun du Preez, AJ de Klerk, Collen Smith, Wian Conradie, Leneve Damans, Arthur Bouwer, Eugene Jantjies, Heinrich Smit.

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