… Jones counts on home ground advantage
Carlos Kambaekwa
Windhoek
Namibian rugby second strings, the Windhoek Draught Welwitschias, face an insurmountable task to restore some lost pride when Lyn Jones’ amateurs welcome the visiting Vodacom Blue Bulls for their second match in the South African Provincial SuperSports Invitational meeting at Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday.
The Welwitschias opened their assault in this year’s tournament with a morale boosting 33-55 defeat at the hands of Hino Falcon away from home in Kempton Park near Johannesburg.
Jones’ young and relatively inexperienced brigade can take solace from their gutsy performance in Kempton Park that saw the Namibians taking a well-deserved 20-17 cushion going into the changeover.
Jones attributed the second-half burnout to his team’s insufficient match fitness.
The wily mentor lamented the team’s lack of regular competitive warm-up matches ahead of important major games, adding that should the current scenario continue his charges will always find themselves on the back foot in the decisive second half, having given their all in the opening 40-minutes.
Despite playing away from home, the Welwitschias put up an impressive and dominant showing in their opening match against the Falcons – only to stumble as fatigue took centre-stage in the final 40 minutes, while usually reliable dead ball specialist Theuns Kotze appeared to have forgotten his educated boot at home.
Saturday’s match promises fireworks as the visitors boast a decent representation of Namibian players in their lineup for the visitors. Though Namibia’s blue-eyed boy, the hippy look-alike, Renaldo Botma, is unlikely to feature, hooker Divan Rossouw is expected to start.
The full squad is as follows:
Heinrich Smith, David Phillander, Lesley Klim, Gino Wilson, JC Greyling, Francois Wiese, Darryl de la Harpe, Aurelio Plato, Theuns Kotze, Eugene Jantjies, Cameron Klassen, Andries Rossouw, Collen Smith, AJ de Klerk, Christo Mcnish, Shaun de Preez, Gerhard Lotter, Munio Kasiringua, Mahepsia Tjeriko, Ruan Ludick, Victor Rodriquez, Leneve Damens, Thomasau Forbes and Rohan Kitsoff.