Strong squad for Africa Cup

Namibia Rugby Union president Petri Theron yesterday announced a strong squad to compete at the Africa Cup in Kampala, Uganda, from 8-19 July. 

The squad sees the addition of six more professional foreign-based players who recently completed their seasons abroad.

Eighthman Wian Conradie and centre Le Roux Malan join the squad, after they helped the New England Free Jacks win the USA Major League Rugby title for the third year in a row after beating the Houston Saber Cats 28-22 in last weekend’s final.

The other additions are hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld and loose forward Richard Hardwick who return from France, as well as the two Pumas professionals Tiaan de Klerk and JC Nel who will join up with the squad in Uganda.

The rest of the team is made up of the players that competed in three warm-up matches against Uganda, the Pumas and Italy, and has a lot of experience as well as a few new faces. They include winger Jurgen Meyer and hooker Armand Combrinck who represented Namibia at the U20 Barthes Cup two months ago, as well as Wanderers outside back Danie van der Merwe and Unam scrum half AJ Kearns who shone in the local premier league this season.

“We have full confidence in this team, which has performed really well, and under this coaching team the preparation is going well. They ticked the boxes that they wanted to tick, and they needed a strong game against Italy to upskill the tempo of the game,” Theron said.

“So we are satisfied, but it’s not going to be easy, and we don’t expect it to be easy. That’s why we picked these really tough games to get going and prepare us for the Africa Cup,” he added.

Theron said he expected strong opposition from the other countries that will battle it out for the Africa Cup, as well as a spot at the 2027 World Cup.

“We expect really strong opposition from countries like Algeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe that we will probably meet if we reach the final, which we fully expect to do. We’ll probably meet the winner between Kenya and Zimbabwe in the final barring, of course, some surprises that can always happen,” he said.

“But it’s going to be a tough tournament—everybody’s gunning for that position to go to the World Cup, so it’s not going to be easy,” he added.

Namibia’s director of rugby Jacques Burger will head the coaching staff, which includes experienced former national players like Rohan Kitshoff, Jacques Engels, Darryl de la Harpe, and David Philander, and that a decision over the coaching role will only be taken after the team’s return.

“Jacques will take the team to the qualifiers, and then we’ll take a decision after that. For now this team has been working together very well; as a coaching team they have gelled really well, so we are excited, but also confident that they can do the job for us. So we will take a decision on whether we should appoint a further head coach at a later stage,” Theron said.

The Namibian squad is as follows: Haitembi Shikufa, Jason Benade, Otja Auala, Sidney Halupe, Louis van der Westhuizen, Armand Combrinck, Torsten van Jaarsveld, Aranos Coetzee, Adriaan Ludick, Oliver Kurz, Tiaan de Klerk, Wian Conradie, Johan Retief, Max Katjijeko, Richard Hardwick, Adriaan Booysen, Prince !Gaoseb, Jacques Theron, Andrew Kearns, Tiaan Swanepoel, Andre van der Berg, Le Roux Malan, Danco Burger, Alcino Izaacs, Jurgen Meyer, Danie van der Merwe, JC Nel.

Technical staff: Jacques Burger (director of rugby), Wilfred Bezuidenhout (doctor), Wessel Kotze (manager), Jaco Engels (scrum coach), Rohan Kitshoff (forwards coach), David Philander (backline coach), Darryl de la Harpe (technical coach), Sergio de la Harpe (strength and conditioning), Tanya Green (physio), Devin O’Brien (video analyst).

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