Saracens loose-forward Jacques Burger will lead an experienced Namibian outfit against New Zealand in their Pool C match on Thursday evening at The Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
The match 23 includes 10 players with Rugby World Cup experience. Burger, scrum half Eugene Jantjies and loose-forward Tinus du Plessis will start their third Rugby World Cup tournament when the match against the World Champions kicks off at 20:00. A Further seven players appeared in the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament in New Zealand.
Namibia Head Coach Phil Davies said a number of key issues were considered when naming the team .
“We want to start building momentum with the rest of the tournament in mind and for each match we will use a 23-man strategy in order to sustain a 80 minute performance required at this level. We have also looked at the World Cup as a 4-match program and we have full confidence in our 31-man squad to reach our goals,” said Davies.
This will be the first ever test match between Namibia and New Zealand.
The Namibian team to face New Zealand is as follows:
15. Johan Tromp
14. David Philander
13. JC Greyling
12. Johan Deysel
11. Conrad Marais
10. Theuns Kotzè (vice-captain)
09. Eugene Jantjies
08. Leneve Damens
07. Tinus du Plessis
06. Jacques Burger (captain)
05. Pieter-Jan van Lill
04. Tjiuee Uanivi
03. Johannes Coetzee.
02. Torsten van Jaarsveld
01. Jaco Engels
Replacements.
16. Louis van der Westhuizen
17. Casper Viviers
18. Raoul Larson
19. Renaldo Bothma
21. Rohan Kitshoff
22. Eneill Buitendag
23. Chrysander Botha.
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