The Welwitschias’ have renewed vigour after getting a thorough workout on their three-week tour of South America, says head coach Allister Coetzee.
They recorded two narrow losses, 34-27 to Argentina XV and 26-18 to Uruguay, before concluding their adventure with a confidence boosting come from behind 28-26 victory over Chile on Saturday.
Namibia went on tour to gauge their level against the pre-eminent South American rugby nations ahead of the upcoming World Cup in France.
“Overall, it’s been a good tour and outing for us. We have no other preparation matches; the three that we’ve played and then the [upcoming warm-up game against] the Bulls. So, this was really a help for us,” said Coetzee.
On the whole, Coetzee is pleased with his team’s response to opponents whose seamless combination of tactical, technical and physical prowess gave the Welwitschias a glimpse of what to expect at the World Cup.
“If you look at their tier one countries, they’ve been playing a lot of games. You have to play to be match sharp and be prepared for the Rugby World Cup, that’s why these games were of great benefit to us,” the wily former Springboks coach said.
Coetzee is keen to remedy their sluggish starts to matches and keep his charges switched on for the duration of their encounters.
On Saturday, Namibia again had to call on their newfound powers of recovery to edge the gamely Chileans in Valparaiso.
Their hosts scored three tries in the first half to lead 19-7 at the break. Namibia turned the match around with three tries of their own late on.
“One must give credit to this side. In the past, Namibian sides down by 20 points would go into a bit of a spiral and not win a game,” Coetzee said when analysing his side’s latest performance earlier this week.
“This team has shown character to come back and perform better in the second half. If we look at our conditioning, it is pleasing to see that we could fight and come back in the second half. So, I’m happy with the outcome and performance.”
DOING THE RIGHT THINGS
In the end, Namibia took the plaudits after an inspired second-half showing in what was a first-ever test match between the two World Cup-bound countries.
Namibia are looking to make an impression at the global spectacle which gets underway in Paris next month.
However, Coetzee is acutely aware of his side’s limitations which Chile routinely exposed in the first half.
Failure to sufficiently remedy these shortcomings in the coming weeks could result in a World Cup to forget when facing the uncompromising top tier nations.
Namibia are in Pool A alongside New Zealand, hosts France, Italy and Uruguay.
“It was quite a tough game. We expected it to be a tough game. A lot of people underestimate a country like Chile. They are quite a good rugby side and country. They lost by a point against Uruguay, and don’t forget that’s a country that beat the USA twice,” Coetzee said of the quality of Saturday’s opponents.
“In the first half, they put us under a lot of pressure by playing an offload game which is the first time we’ve played a team that does that. It was a good test for us. Now we know what to work on in terms of our defence and how to stop the offloads going,” he observed.
“It was a good exercise for us, a great win and comeback. I think we let ourselves down in the first half with lots of missed tackles and unforced soft penalties that we conceded,” Coetzee continued.
“It’s good to learn when you’re winning and not only when losing, so this was an important win for us to finish the tour on a high and make sure we get the result.
“It’s given this team a bit of belief that we’re doing the right things and especially believing in our systems that we have.
“So, from that point of view, it’s crucial. We must remember that we were playing away from home and won. That’s how you will play in France and have to beat teams away from home. That is a big plus for us.”
TRAUMATIC INJURIES
Weary of losing more starters to injury, Coetzee is leaning towards giving the fringe players a run when the Welwitschias’ host South African franchise Blue Bulls in their final World Cup warm-up at Hage Geingob Stadium on 26 August.
“We’ve had some traumatic injuries with Hilarius Kisting breaking his arm, Johan Retief has done his collarbone against Chile on Saturday, and also Gihard Visagie is sitting with a torn calf muscle. Torsten [van Jaarsveld] is a battling with a bicep muscle,” Coetzee said.
“Hopefully, one or two of those players can recover in time to join us at the World Cup. The injury situation is not ideal, but it gives other players an opportunity again to come in. This is why this type of tour was important to create depth in the squad. Not all players played, but all the players developed and improved within the system,” noted Coetzee, who is expected to finalise his World Cup squad shortly.
“Also individually, they had more time with the coaches and the coaches could really work with those players. We fostered team culture. I’m really happy with where we are, this group is heading in the right direction.”
The coach is banking on good organisation and the rub of the green against the Bulls to give them a blueprint for a fighting chance in France.
“That game is important as well. It will give players an opportunity who haven’t made the trip to South America and players who were on the bench in Uruguay will get an opportunity to start. And, one or two players that we weren’t sure of will get an opportunity to be involved in the Bulls game,” said Coetzee.
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