THE national senior rugby team will kick off their preparations for the 2011 International Rugby Board (IRB) World Cup next month with a 10-day training camp in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
The Namibia Rugby Union’s acting chief executive officer, Christo Alexander, told Nampa on Wednesday that the training camp would run from July 1.’The team will merely be focusing on the conditioning of players and game planning, with assistance from top South African rugby coaches like Rassie Erasmus, who is the current coach of Western Province Stormers,’ said Alexander.He said the training camp will be attended by many of the players who took part in the just-ended 2011 International Rugby Board (IRB) Nations Cup. Only a few players will not be able to attend because of work commitments.The acting CEO could not say if there will be any friendly international matches played during the team’s stay in South Africa.Namibia is gearing up for the IRB World Cup, to be hosted by New Zealand from September 9 to October 23 this year.The senior national rugby team is in Group D of the competition, which is known as the ‘Group of Death’, as it hosts three countries that are in the top 10 bracket of the IRB’s world rankings.Of the other teams in Group D, South Africa is ranked third, with Wales in seventh position and Fiji ranked tenth. Samoa is in 11th place on the world rankings.Namibia, currently ranked 20th, will have their opening match against Fiji in the city of Rotorua on 10 September 2011.The Namibians’ second encounter is scheduled to take place against Samoa on 14 September, also in Rotorua.Their third match is against South Africa on 22 September in Auckland, with their final match is to be played against Wales on 26 September in New Plymouth. – Nampa
