Burger back with Namibian rugby 

Legendary Namibian rugby captain Jacques Burger has been appointed as Namibia’s director of rugby, while Chrysander Botha will head the national coaching staff. 

This was announced by the president of the Namibia Rugby Union, Petri Theron yesterday, saying that it was a new dawn for Namibian rugby. 

“We’re ushering in a new era where we invest in our own people, who are heart and soul Namibians, like Jacques. We’ve had some extensive talks and as a board we felt that the time has come for Namibia to invest in its own and to trust its own people,” he said. 

“I’m really proud to announce that Jacques has been appointed as the new director of rugby for Namibia. I’m really excited, I’ve got goosebumps as we speak about it, and it’s the ushering in of a new era. It’s the first time that we have a local appointed as director of rugby but we have full trust in him, and we believe he’s the right person for the job,” he added.

The former crash-tackling flanker is Namibia’s greatest rugby player since independence, having represented the national team at three world cups – while he was also named as one of the top five players in the world at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Besides that he made a huge impact at Saracens, helping them to win two English Premier League titles in 2011 and 2015 while he was named Saracens’ player of the year in 2011. 

Burger said it was a great honour to be appointed Namibia’s director of rugby but said a huge challenge lay ahead. 

“If we don’t put in our full effort and don’t have the backing of everybody it’s going to be very tough to qualify, but I’m extremely positive that we will put in great performances and make the whole country proud during the qualifiers,” he said. 

“We need to create an environment in the team that people want to be a part of, so that kids grow up as Namibians, saying ‘I want to play for Namibia, I dont want to play for South Africa or another country.’ It’s about creating that pride and making sure we back them and give them all the tools for them to develop as players,” he added.

Burger said it was important to try and develop a unifom coaching philosophy from schools level through to the national side. 

“We want to work with the school and club coaches, to try and educate them as much as possible as well. I think that’s the main focus, trying to get as many coaches as possible some experience so that they can invest in the school boys as well and bring it through the junior levels to the senior levels,” he said. 

“We haven’t got everything in place but we’ve got plans and we’ve definitely got the drive and with the backing of the local people and sponsorships we are going to do some great things. We want to make sure that every youngster in our country is firstly very proud to represent Namibia and his countrymen, and we also want to help them become better people and human beings, who are well educated and who’ve got all the tools that they need to progress in life after rugby as well,” he added. 

NRU vice president Johan Diergaardt, meanwhile, announced that Chrysander Botha will take over as head coach of the national men’s team, taking over from Allister Coetzee who’s contract is coming to an end. Botha has been an assistant coach to Coetzee, while he will be assisted by Rohan Kitshoff, Jaco Engels and David Philander, who have all been part of the national coaching set-up. 

Burger also announced a busy rugby calendar for next year which will kick off with a regional 15s tournament in February, while the club leagues will start at the end of March.

In April and May the Welwitschias will play two friendly matches against South African teams that still need to be finalised, but the big scoop will come in June when the Welwitschias will play the Stormers and the Blue Bulls as part of their preparations for the Africa Cup, which takes place in Uganda in July.