NAMIBIA yesterday announced their team to take on Samoa in a World Cup Pool D match in Rotorua tomorrow, showing three changes to the team which lost 49-25 against Fiji in their opener.
Out go Nico Esterhuyse, Tinus du Plessis and Conrad Marais, but Hugo Horn is back for his ninth World Cup match, leaving him just one match short of the Namibian record held by Heino Senekal, who played in three tournaments.Theuns Kotze’s 15 points in Namibia’s opening match leaves him just seven short of his country’s record for individual points scorer, both at a single World Cup and in a World Cup career.He has been selected again at flyhalf and will go past Lean van Dyk’s record of 22 points by scoring eight against Samoa.Lock Henk Franken, number eight PJ van Lill and pacy wing Llewellyn Winkler all make their tournament starts but Franken will be the only one of the three to make his World Cup debut.Jacques Nieuwenhuis switches from number eight to flanker to accommodate van Lill in the back row.Meanwhile, Namibia coach Johan Diergaardt were complimentary when he was asked about his captain, Jacques Burger. ‘He’s a legend in Namibia,’ Diergaardt added. ‘We appreciate him.’Burger, who led all tacklers last Saturday in the World Cup opening loss to Fiji, with a dozen, also said he had huge respect for his part-time teammates. ‘They are good players. But sometimes I get the feeling they don’t know how good they are,’ Burger said. ‘These guys who work 8 to 5 then go to training, I take my hat off to them,’ he added. ‘I have a lot of respect for them for that.’The team: Chrysander Botha; Danie Dames, Danie van Wyk, Piet van Zyl, Llewellyn Winkler; Theuns Kotze, Eugene Jantjies; Pieter Jan van Lill, Jacques Burger (captain), Jacques Nieuwenhuis; Henk Franken, Heinz Koll; Raoul Larson, Hugo Horn, Johnnie RedelinghuysReplacements: Bertus O’Callaghan, Jane du Toit, Nico Esterhuyse, Rohan Kitshoff, Ryan de la Harpe, Darryl de la Harpe, TC Losper. – Nampa-AFP
