Sevens to hit Namibia

SEVENS rugby will come to Namibian at the end of this month, after Trustco Namibia yesterday announced an N$18 million investment over six years to the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) to host the world showpiece.

A total of 11 top rugby-playing nations are expected to compete.The sponsorship deal will be spread over six years and the inaugural year will see N$3 million going into the tournament, which will be decided on September 25 to 26 this year at Hage Geingob Stadium.The top nations that are set to compete on Namibian soil include the Springboks, Fiji, Samoa, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Portugal, Zambia, Uganda, Botswana and the Emerging Springboks.It will be the first time ever that an International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens Series sanctioned tournament is held in Namibia.Trustco managing director Quinton van Rooyen said he hoped the Namibian teams could surprise a few of the big guns in the inaugural tournament, expressing confidence in the performance of the team on home turf which can get them invited to some of the events on the IRB Sevens Series Circuit.NRU vice president Sarel Losper said the tournament was a dream of the NRU and the greatest hurdle was to gain the sanctioning approval of the IRB.’This sanctioning was received late last month which allowed us a formidable selection of teams to participate in the tournament,’ he said.He added that Sevens world champions England and other European teams such as Wales might be included in next year’s event.NRU’s head of High Performance and Development Christo Alexander said the event is set to take Namibia by storm and will be one of the biggest yet to be staged on the continent.There will be seven senior matches at the Hage Geingob Stadium, while a similar sevens tournament will also be held for eight local and 12 others from South Africa on the same weekend. The schools matches are taking place at Windhoek High School’s Vegkop Stadium. STANDOFF The sponsorship comes in the wake of a standoff between the NRU and their lead sponsor MTC, which in principle did not agree to sponsor the Sevens tournament.Yesterday, MTC spokesman Albertus Aochamub said they would have an urgent meeting with the NRU today on the issue, but he could not comment on the current partnership between the union and Trustco.’We have a standing agreement in place and we will take up the issue along the lines of our agreement. At this stage, that is all I can say until we meet with the NRU,’ he said.The union has a three-year deal with MTC to be the sport’s main sponsor, but this is mainly for the domestic leagues and the national 15-man teams.In terms of their agreement, MTC has the first right of refusal on any sponsorship attempt. But in the past two years, various contractual fights have erupted between the two as the NRU accuses MTC of not committing enough financially and therefore opted to seek other sponsorship instead. In fact, the agreement between the two parties will expire on September 30, but Aochamub earlier indicated that they might renew it. corry@namibian.com.na