Welwitschias off to Stellenbosch

NAMIBIA’S preparations for the Rugby World Cup begin in earnest on Friday when a 30-man rugby squad leaves for Stellenbosch, South Africa, to attend a 10-day training camp.

National coach Johan Diergaardt told Namibia Sport that the camp would provide the final preparation for the World Cup, with the focus being on the conditioning of the players.’We will place emphasis on the conditioning of the players and the strengthening of their bodies. We will also focus a lot on their skills development,’ Diergaardt said.According to Diergaardt, the squad will consist of all the players who participated in the IRB Nations Cup competition in Georgia as well as three others who didn’t make that trip.They are Namibia’s regular captain Jacques Burger, who recently returned home after playing for Saracens in England, and centre Piet van Zyl and wing Conrad Marais, who arrived from club duty in France.Diergaardt will be assisted by backline coach Riaan Jantjies and defensive coach Niel Kelly, who assisted the team in Romania, and technical advisor Gerhard Pool of South Africa. He said he heard rumours that Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus would also attend the camp as a technical advisor, although that is highly unlikely given that Erasmus was recently appointed technical advisor on the coaching staff of the Springboks.Diergaardt said that Namibia would play three friendly matches in August in preparation for the World Cup, against an Argentinian Pampas team on August 6 and 13 and a South African Universities team on August 20.Namibia’s final World Cup squad of 30 players will be announced on August 17. Diergaardt however said that players that are not in the current group could still come into reckoning for a place in the final squad.’Two players that we are looking at at the moment are wing Danie Dames and lock Henk Franken,’ he said.He however added that it was unlikely that Namibia would be able to get the services of their two props Henk Schlechter and Jaco Engels, who are contracted to the Eastern Province Kings.’We have requested the IRB to assist us in this matter but nothing has come of it. EP don’t want to release the players because they are contracted to the union, so Namibia is the loser in the end. It’s very unfortunate because we don’t have much depth at prop,’ he said. – namibiasport.com.na