SWD mauls invitational side

THE rugby under-23 Invitational team lost 64-7 to South Western Districts (SWD) in a practice match at the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The visitors ran in tries against an inexperienced side that played for the first time as a team as part of the drive of national team coach Johan Venter to recruit talented players that can represent the country at future World Cup. Venter told The Namibian Sport yesterday that the team did not have any single senior national team player because he was checking the combinations of players and the game just served as a practice match.”I am looking at the depth of our players and I fielded a young team against the SWD to also give them a chance of playing at that level.They did not play bad at all, but the point is, I was interested to see how they could present themselves in the various positions they played, as I aim to build a team for future international matches,” he said.None of the official under-23 national team players were represented in the team on Wednesday night, according to Venter.He said tonight, the second group of under-23 players will come up against the same side, but he will use at least eight senior players just to give some competition to the SWD.”The senior players will only play their first international test match against Zambia in May.But before that, I will hold another set of trials to select 50 players of which 30 will be selected at the end of June to represent Namibia at the World Cup in France later this year,” he said.Venter told The Namibian Sport yesterday that the team did not have any single senior national team player because he was checking the combinations of players and the game just served as a practice match.”I am looking at the depth of our players and I fielded a young team against the SWD to also give them a chance of playing at that level.They did not play bad at all, but the point is, I was interested to see how they could present themselves in the various positions they played, as I aim to build a team for future international matches,” he said.None of the official under-23 national team players were represented in the team on Wednesday night, according to Venter.He said tonight, the second group of under-23 players will come up against the same side, but he will use at least eight senior players just to give some competition to the SWD.”The senior players will only play their first international test match against Zambia in May.But before that, I will hold another set of trials to select 50 players of which 30 will be selected at the end of June to represent Namibia at the World Cup in France later this year,” he said.