Namibia signed off in style at the Rugby World Cup Qualifier in Dubai with a 40-31 victory against Brazil on Tuesday, but some lean years await following their failure to qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Furthermore, Namibia will also not benefit from a radical restructuring of the game by World Rugby, while they are set to lose millions in funding until the next world cup cycle.
On Tuesday, Namibia once again got off to a slow start with Brazil going 17-3 ahead after early tries by Lucas Tranquez and Leonel Moreno, but Namibia finally awoke from their slumber with a rolling maul try by debutant prop Josh Bester.
Brazil once again edged 24-7 ahead with a try by Lorenzo Temmer, but Namibia fought back and regained the initiative with tries by leftwing Jurgen Meyer and Adriaan Ludick.
Brazil’s task was made harder just before half-time when winger Sergio Luna was red-carded, and Namibia took the lead for the first time when rightwing Danie van der Merwe rounded off a quick backline attack.
Meyer scored his second try, taking a great gap through Brazil’s backline, and when Jay Cee Nel dived over for a sixth try in the corner they were well in control, leading 40-24.
Brazil got a late consolation try by Matheus Claudio, but Namibia ran out convincing winners after a brave and impassioned display.
It was a great comeback after the disappointment of missing out on the world cup, and captain Louis van der Westhuizen says the victory meant a lot.
“This win means a lot. Firstly we had a few fans here in Dubai and obviously we play for our country, for the fans back home, and ultimately we play for God and we just want to thank him for the opportunity to play rugby and stand behind our nation.
“We said this is the first match of our rebuilding phase for Namibia for the next qualifier, and we have our eye on the prize for that. We have to start again somewhere, and this was the first building block for us,” he says.
Van der Westhuizen adds that they need to work on their slow starts.
“We saw a bad trend of the first 20 to 25 minutes, where we found ourselves on the back foot the whole time, behind with 17 points or 25 points, and only then do we start playing quality rugby.
“So if we can get a good start in those first 20 minutes and not concede points and stay in the fight, I think we can put big teams under a lot of pressure,” he says.
The future of Namibian rugby is now not so clear and rather bleak, considering they missed out on a new global rugby competition ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
On Monday, World Rugby launched a new international competition, the biennial World Rugby Nations Championship, which will see the world’s top 12 nations battling it out for the global title.
The competing nations for the first edition that kicks off in July 2026 are the Six Nations countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy) and the nations in the southern hemisphere (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina).
The other two nations are Japan and Fiji, which will compete in the southern hemisphere tournament, where the winner will face the northern hemisphere winner in the global final.
World Rugby also announced a new competition for tier 2 rugby nations, with the aim of providing greater certainty, financial stability, and competitive rugby for tier 2 nations.
The nations are ranked between 10 and 26 on the world rankings, with Namibia, now ranked 27th, falling out of contention when they lost the Africa Cup final 30-29 to Zimbabwe in July.
Zimbabwe now will represent Africa in the tournament, which includes powerful European nations like Georgia (ranked 11th), Spain (14th), Portugal (20th) and Romania (21st).
The Americas is well represented, with Uruguay (15), United States (16), Chile (18), and Canada (24), while the other competing nations are Samoa, Tonga and Hong Kong China.
Namibia, however, is now on the outside looking in, and their prospects of strong competitive matches against higher-ranked nations looks limited.
Apart from that, the Namibia Rugby Union will also take a big financial blow, with high-performance grants from World Rugby and tournament participation fees expected to take a big cut.
Namibia now enters some lean years till the next cycle starts for the 2031 Rugby World Cup Qualifiers, but it needs to start with a five-year plan aimed at the 2031 World Cup in the United States.
Namibia is already losing out heavily in numbers, compared to many of the other emerging nations, like Brazil with an estimated 70 000 registered players, and Belgium with half of that.
For Namibia to remain competitive it would have to launch a concerted development drive to broaden its player base.
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