Namibia will have a mountain to climb when they take on New Zealand in their second Rugby World Cup in Toulouse tonight.
The mighty All Blacks have had their worst start to a world cup – first suffering their biggest ever defeat when the Sporingboks thumped them 35-7 in a warm-up match, and then losing their opening world cup match 27-13 to France. That was another unwanted first for the All Blacks – the first time they had ever lost a pool match at the world cup.
As such they will be determined to get back on track with a resounding win and Namibia will have to bear the brunt of their comeback.
“We have to rebound from round one. It’s a key game for us to get right,” New Zealand coach Ian Foster said at a press conference this week, while New Zealand scrum coach Greg Feek added that they respected Namibia.
“They have a lot of players in their pack who used to play for the Cheetahs, even some in Europe,” he said.
“They will be battle-hardened. It will be a great test for us, we have a lot of respect for where they’re at now,” he added.
Despite all the pre-match niceties, the bare statistics paint another picture and Namibia will once again enter the match as huge underdogs.
The two nations have met twice before at the world cup with New Zealand winning both encounters comfortably – 58-14 in London in 2015 and 71-9 in Tokyo four years later.
This time around Namibia have an experienced and settled team which features eight players who played against New Zealand four years ago, but at the same time, they also have to overcome tremendous odds in terms of a World Rugby fixture list that will see them playing only their 13th test since the 2019 World Cup.
Their 2023 campaign didn’t get off to a great start as they went down 52-8 to Italy last weekend, but they held their own in the setpieces and impressed with their structured multi-phase attacks, while wing Gerswin Mouton also scored a great try.
Namibia, in fact, were competitive throughout and only lost their way towards the end when they conceded 21 points in the final ten minutes.
The match statistics against Italy were also encouraging as Namibia enjoyed 54 percent territorial advantage and 48 percent possession, but the most telling statistic was the tackles missed – 42 by Namibia compared to only 12 by Italy.
Namibia made 109 tackles compared to Italy’s 130, and they will need a massive defensive effort and put their bodies on the line against the All Blacks.
Foster on Wednesday named nine changes to his starting lineup, with most of them amongst the backs, and with the mercurial Damian Mackenzie starting at flyhalf, they are sure to use their backline to maximum effect.
They only made two changes amongst the forwards, where their veteran lock Sam Whitelock will make history by equalling Richie McCaw’s All Blacks test record of 148 caps.
Namibia coach Allister Coetzee, meanwhile, made four changes, bringing in Cliven Loubser at fullback, Le Roux Malan at centre, Prince! Gaoseb at flank and Jason Benade at prop.
Loubser’s inclusion will increase their attacking capabilities, but they will have to win their fair share of possession in the set pieces and rucks where the likes of Tjiuee Uanivi, Richard Hardwick and Wian Conradie will have to be on top of their game.
At the team’s farewell dinner Coetzee acknowledged that they face a tough task against the All Blacks, but said they hoped to earn the nation’s respect.
“When we leave the field after that game we want the Namibian nation to be proud of our effort and proud of what we can achieve against a highly competitive team like the All Blacks,” he said.
With the world now watching they can also earn international respect with another inspirational performance.
They certainly did that in the past, and when captain Johan Deysel scored a try against the All Blacks in 2015 the 50 000-strong crowd at London’s Olympic Stadium erupted with joy. Hopefully more of that will be in store tonight.
The team’s are as follows:
Namibia:
Cliven Loubser; Gerswin Mouton, Johan Deysel (captain), Le Roux Malan, Divan Rossouw; Tiaan Swanepoel, Damian Stevens; Richard Hardwick, Prince !Gaoseb, Wian Conradie; Tjiuee Uanivi, Johan Retief; Aranos Coetzee, Torsten van Jaarsveld, Jason Benade.
Replacements: Louis van der Westhuizen, Des Sethie, Haitembu Shifuka, PJ van Lill, Adriaan Booysen, Max Katjijeko, Jacques Theron, JC Greyling.
New Zealand:
Beauden Barrett; Caleb Clarke, Anton Lienert-Brown, David Havili, Leicester Fainga’anuku; Damian McKenzie, Cam Roigard, Ardie Savea (captain), Dalton Papali’i, Luke Jacobson; Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick; Nepo Laulala, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Ofa Tuungafasi.
Replacements: Dane Coles, Ethan de Groot, Fletcher Newell, Scott Barrett, Tupou Vaa’i; Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga, Rieko Ioane.
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