Welwitschias take stock as Portugal test looms
Rugby
Following a big defeat in their friendly match against a quality Vodacom Blue Bulls side last Saturday, the Windhoek Beer Welwitschias training squad resumed their preparations with a low intensity session at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Monday.Namibia hosts Portugal’s “Os Lobos” (The Wolves) in a one-off test match in Windhoek on 13 July. Portugal is a quality outfit. The tourists are placed 16th on the World Rugby ranking, with Namibia 22nd.
At last year’s World Cup in France, they beat Fiji (24-23) following a draw against Georgia (18-18) and maintaining reasonable margins against Wales (8-28) and Australia (14-34).
National head coach and director of rugby, Allister Coetzee, remains confident that his charges could turn things around in time.
“We are fortunate to get eight players back, which is quite positive for us. I hope that the returning players can practice and settle in so that we can have a more cohesive unit by next week. We should also not forget that everyone had a massive experience against the Bulls and learned some valuable lessons.”
Griquas centre and wing Jay-Cee Nel was among the notable additions at training this week, along with Adriaan Ludick (lock, from French club Limoges), Natie van Rensburg (Wanderers centre), Jason Benade (Unam prop), Adriaan Booysen (eighthman, no club) and Renard Hatting (Grootfontein prop).
Debriefing
Coetzee said he understands that fans would feel the performance they witnessed against the Bulls was not good enough.
“Our competitive level will never get much better, as long as we have players only playing club rugby and who are expected to make the jump to compete against teams competing in the United Rugby Championship.
“The reality is that we are taking on top-notch professionals who are available to train from eight to five every day of the week, while our squad trains twice a week.”
He pointed out that the Welwitschias play very few matches together in a season.
“This was our first game as a group and it was a hell of a step up for the club players in terms of physicality and conditioning. I think the intensity at which the game is played at this level hit them the most. The start of the new cycle requires that we train long enough and get used to this intensity."
Coetzee again emphasised the importance of giving local players an opportunity. “We should not be disappointed with where we are now, because it is a process we all need to buy into. We need to work towards getting the players up to a better level than where we are now. Players realise now what they need to do to get themselves to the next level.”
Make adjustments
He listed some positives taken from the Blue performance.
“We did some good things on attack. We created space in the first few minutes, for example when Lloyd Jacobs went down the touchline. We need to have patience with the ball in hand, respect the structure and also need to find parity at set-pieces.”
Coetzee pointed out that the body position of ball carriers were sometimes too high and they got knocked back by double hits.
“These collisions slowed our ball down. We learned that carry height is important and that we have to target the hips to recycle quick ball.”
Coetzee said the Blue Bulls were defensively on top of their game and way ahead of the Namibians.
“They dominated the collisions and we were always going backwards, so they had momentum. We know now that we have to stop the momentum of our opponents with good double tackles and with one going in low and one on the ball. The other thing is if you do not kick well it is easy for the opposition and fast runners like Sergeal Petersen and Devon Williams to have a go in open field play and they are game-breakers in those situations.”
Portugal, who played their first rugby international against Spain in 1935, competed in their second Rugby World Cup in 2022, after topping the qualifying repechage featuring the USA, Hong Kong, and Kenya the previous year.