NAMIBIAs national womens rugby team is hard at work, preparing for their first international match in eight years when they host Zambia at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday.
The match forms part of the 2021 Africa Cup Womens 15s series, which has seen 11 countries involved throughout the continent this year, and will serve as preparation for a new African competition next year, to qualify African countries for a new global Womens 15s competition.
The last time the national womens team was in action was in 2013 in a friendly against Botswana, but Namibia will now make history against Zambia when they compete in an official test match for the first time.
At a training session on Saturday, national coach Christelle Kotze said they have had some challenges in their preparations.
“I wont lie, its been challenging – most of the girls live outside Windhoek, but they have been training with their coaches in their respective towns, and on Saturdays weve held training sessions where all of them have come together. Theyve really been putting in the work from outside, and its good to see that the understanding is good from all sides,” she said.
“For the first time in five years, we have a national team and thats exciting – just to see the girls and the level of play they are at, which is much better than I expected,” she added.
Zambia, which is ranked 30th in the world, will start as the favourites, with Namibia only ranked 52nd, but Kotze said the rankings did not deter them.
“I dont think Zambia has the upper hand, they just have a higher ranking because theyve been playing more games than us, but I trust in the talent and the capabilities of the Namibian team and I know we can give Zambia a go for their money,” she said.
Kotze said that womens rugby was growing steadily in Namibia.
“Currently we have six clubs playing womens rugby actively, namely Kudus, Grootfontein, Rehoboth and Okahandja from the clubs outside, and then weve got Unam and Wanderers within Windhoek. Each team has about 20 to 25 players, so that means there are more than 100 women playing club rugby, which is very good, and then we are not even talking about the schools rugby thats coming up,” she said.
“I know of a team that is currently developing in Luderitz, as well as in Keetmans, so the numbers are really picking up. Ive also been involved with Windhoek High Schools team, while Ella du Plessis has a schools team, and I know Okahandja has a schools team, so the future of womens rugby really looks bright if you look at the numbers,” she added.
Some of the countries that have come to the fore in this years Africa Cup include Cameroon, Madagascar, Uganda and Tunisia.
Cameroon beat Burkina Faso 37-0 and 35-3 in Ouagadougou in June, while Madagascar beat Kenya 27-15 and 10-0 in Nairobi in July.
Also in July, Uganda beat Zimbabwe 41-0 and 34-3 in Kampala, while Tunisia won a three-nation tournament against Senegal and the Ivory Coast in Tunis.
Tunisia beat the Ivory Coast 61-0 and Senegal 14-3, while Senegal beat the Ivory Coast 45-5.
