Namibia has selected a strong team for the opening match of the Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations Rugby Series against Zimbabwe on Friday night.
The team includes seven foreign-based professionals, while some up-and-coming junior players have been added to the 23-man squad.
In the backline, Chrysander Botha, who had a great season with the Lions in South Africa, will start at fullback, while the De la Harpe brothers, Darryl and Sergio, who play for Constanta club in Romania, have also been selected.
Theuns Kotze who is currently playing for the French second division club Pays d’Aix will start at flyhalf and will be partnered by Eugene Jantjies who also recently returned from Constanta in Romania.
Amongst the forwards, flanker Rohan Kitshoff of Western Province is the only active foreign-based player, although prop Jaco Engels and flanker Tinus du Plessis recently returned to Namibia after completing their contracts abroad.
The rest of the team consists of local based players who have impressed during the season as well as up and coming junior players.
Wanderers’ eighthman PJ van Lill will captain the team which includes other players who have impressed on the local circuit this season like Western Suburbs’ player of the season, lock Mune Tjiueza and their stand-out centre Johan Tromp.
Some of the up and coming junior players that have been included in the 23-man squad are lock Janco Venter, wing Heinrich Smit, hooker Louis van der Westhuizen and centre Johan Deysel.
The Namibian team is as follows:
Jaco Engels, Rathony Becker, Andre Schlechter, Mune Tjiueza, Morne Blom, Rohan Kitshoff, Tinus du Plessis, PJ van Lill, Eugene Jantjies, Heinrich Smit, Darryl de la Harpe, Johan Tromp, Sergio de la Harpe, Chrysander Botha, Louis van der Westhuizen, Johnny Redelinghuys, Shaun du Preez, Stefan Neustadt, Janco Venter, Eneill Buitendag, Johan Deysel and Justin Nel.
The Zimbabwean team will be captained by centre Daniel Hondo and includes ten foreign-based players. Six of them play for clubs in the United Kingdom namely prop Nick Winwood, eighthman Kingsley Lang, scrumhalf Hilton Mudariki, centre Sean Moan, lock Martin Wolfenden and flanker Andrew Rose; lock Michael Passaportis plays in France; and flyhalf Lenience Tambwera, hooker Royal Mwale and prop Kevin Nqidi play in South Africa.
The Zimbabwean captain Hondo meanwhile thanked the Namibian Rugby Union for the invitation, saying they would give a better account of themselves than last year, when they lost both their matches 37-33 to Namibia and 47-14 to Spain.
“On behalf of Zimbabwe rugby, we would like to thank the Namibia Rugby Union and International Rugby Board for facilitating this tournament. Last year we were lucky enough to attend and had a fantastic stay in Windhoek. In 2012 Zimbabwe were not successful on the field against the hosts or Spain. This year however, the team is better prepared and looking forward to the challenge of playing our African brothers Namibia and Kenya,” he said.
The match starts at 19h30 at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Friday night and will be preceded by an encounter between Namibia U20 and a Namibian Invitational team at 17h00.
Tickets cost N$20 for adults and N$10 for pensioners, while youths under 18 may enter free of charge.
