Rugby team praised, but hard work ahead

THE Namibian rugby side, which has qualified for the 2007 World Cup in France, was applauded by over 200 people who gathered at the Hosea International Airport yesterday to welcome the team.

The team now faces the challenging task of preparing for tough competition in Group D at the World Cup tournament in France in September next year. The team returned as heroes from Casablanca after defeating Morocco 27-8 on Saturday.The players and team management were welcomed by their families, who were clearly delighted with the result, while the boys from the Pioneer Boys’ School shouted victory slogans as the team arrived.It is the third time Namibia has qualified for the Rugby World Cup, and the second time for coach Johan Venter to lead the team to the world’s top rugby tournament.He also led the side to the 1999 World Cup in Wales.Captain Kees Lensing, who plays for the Sharks in South Africa, said the tons of faxes they received from home while in Morocco spurred the team on to go out and win the match.”We were really surprised by the amount of faxes were received from home to wish us well.We received and read all the faxes and this actually motivated us to go onto the field and do a good job,” he said.”One actually gets goose bumps if you see so much support coming from the people.”Lensing thanked Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) for its support in their build-up to qualify for the World Cup.He also thanked his teammates for the discipline they showed on the field.”We have more work do to ahead of us now, so I hope that we will all do it together to ensure success,” said the prop forward.Namibia’s preparations for the qualifying matches were initially hampered by a lack of funding, with players sometimes failing to go to the gym because to that.But the conditions in training camps have improved after MTC offered financial assistance.Coach Venter told The Namibian Sport that the national team will need support from all the people in the country ahead of and during the World Cup.”We are going to call for an indaba with all the stakeholders in the game to plan for this World Cup.In fact, we do not only want to plan for France, but we also need to look beyond that.That is the World Cup in 2011.We need to have a formidable foundation in all the structures of the game in order to compete with the best.So it is important that our teams have depth and we also need to be extremely competitive,” he said.Venter has an impressive coaching record with the national team.Under his leadership, they have won seven of their nine matches, only losing to Kenya and Tunisia.Venter said he was more than pleased with the performance of the players because they showed total commitment throughout the match.Venter is currently working on a voluntary basis with the team and is not getting paid for his work.He has also not signed a contract of employment with the NRU, but only has an appointment letter with no specific time frame for being in charge of the team.He will take the team to the World Cup despite that, he said.Namibian team manager and former national team number 8, Sarel van der Merwe, was equally excited about the qualification, saying that the entire team was proud to be Namibian.He said it was a well executed assignment, largely thanks to the financial support of MTC.Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) president Dirk Conradie said the union would offer support in every way leading up to the World Cup.He said there was a lot of work to be done in the following months, but promised that the team will be well looked after and given a problem-free path to the event.”Kees (Lensing), if there is anything you need.You know my number.Call me and we will be there,” he said.Conradie also revealed that the NRU intends to call in experts from around the world to help Namibia prepare for the World Cup.Experts for both the back line and the forwards will be brought in, while there will also be a host of individuals such as dieticians and fitness trainers to help the team come on par with the changing dynamics in world rugby.Deputy Minister of Sport Pohamba Shifeta, who proposed a toast to the team’s victory, said Namibia has to go the World Cup to win, not just to participate.Namibia will compete in Group D with France, Ireland and Argentina.The tournament kicks off on September 7 (not in June as reported yesterday), with Namibia playing their opening match against Ireland on September 9 in Bordeaux.The team returned as heroes from Casablanca after defeating Morocco 27-8 on Saturday.The players and team management were welcomed by their families, who were clearly delighted with the result, while the boys from the Pioneer Boys’ School shouted victory slogans as the team arrived.It is the third time Namibia has qualified for the Rugby World Cup, and the second time for coach Johan Venter to lead the team to the world’s top rugby tournament.He also led the side to the 1999 World Cup in Wales.Captain Kees Lensing, who plays for the Sharks in South Africa, said the tons of faxes they received from home while in Morocco spurred the team on to go out and win the match.”We were really surprised by the amount of faxes were received from home to wish us well.We received and read all the faxes and this actually motivated us to go onto the field and do a good job,” he said.”One actually gets goose bumps if you see so much support coming from the people.”Lensing thanked Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) for its support in their build-up to qualify for the World Cup.He also thanked his teammates for the discipline they showed on the field.”We have more work do to ahead of us now, so I hope that we will all do it together to ensure success,” said the prop forward.Namibia’s preparations for the qualifying matches were initially hampered by a lack of funding, with players sometimes failing to go to the gym because to that.But the conditions in training camps have improved after MTC offered financial assistance.Coach Venter told The Namibian Sport that the national team will need support from all the people in the country ahead of and during the World Cup.”We are going to call for an indaba with all the stakeholders in the game to plan for this World Cup.In fact, we do not only want to plan for France, but we also need to look beyond that.That is the World Cup in 2011.We need to have a formidable foundation in all the structures of the game in order to compete with the best.So it is important that our teams have depth and we also need to be extremely competitive,” he said.Venter has an impressive coaching record with the national team.Under his leadership, they have won seven of their nine matches, only losing to Kenya and Tunisia.Venter said he was more than pleased with the performance of the players because they showed total commitment throughout the match.Venter is currently working on a voluntary basis with the team and is not getting paid for his work.He has also not signed a contract of employment with the NRU, but only has an appointment letter with no specific time frame for being in charge of the team.He will take the team to the World Cup despite that, he said.Namibian team manager and former national team number 8, Sarel van der Merwe, was equally excited about the qualification, saying that the entire team was proud to be Namibian.He said it was a well executed assignment, largely thanks to the financial support of MTC.Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) president Dirk Conradie said the union would offer support in every way leading up to the World Cup. He said there was a lot of work to be done in the following months, but promised that the team will be well looked after and given a problem-free path to the event.”Kees (Lensing), if there is anything you need.You know my number.Call me and we will be there,” he said.Conradie also revealed that the NRU intends to call in experts from around the world to help Namibia prepare for the World Cup.Experts for both the back line and the forwards will be brought in, while there will also be a host of individuals such as dieticians and fitness trainers to help the team come on par with the changing dynamics in world rugby.Deputy Minister of Sport Pohamba Shifeta, who proposed a toast to the team’s victory, said Namibia has to go the World Cup to win, not just to participate.Namibia will compete in Group D with France, Ireland and Argentina.The tournament kicks off on September 7 (not in June as reported yesterday), with Namibia playing their opening match against Ireland on September 9 in Bordeaux.