The clash will be a repeat of last year’s semi-final match-up, which saw the Namibians emerging as 16-5 winners over this year’s hosts – Kenya. They will again be gunning for a similar outcome and hope for a place in the final.
Speaking to Rugby Africa’s media team, Namibia’s captain Joe Corne Losper said their 20-12 win over Zambia in their opening match of the tournament this past weekend was a good morale booster and placed them in a perfect position to approach today’s match with great optimism.
“We have been having some video sessions trying to look at what we did wrong and looking at what we can improve on in our game. [Facing Kenya] will be an interesting match, we will try a different approach this time. Analysing some of their games as well as working on ours and how we are going to adapt, will play a major role,” said Losper.
In preparation for the match, Namibia yesterday held a light training session at the Impala Club where they also got to interact with the Rugby Africa officiating panel led by renowned referee Rasta Rasivhenge.
Namibian team coach Ryan Clinton Alexander believes they are now more flexible to weather conditions in Nairobi.
“We have been working on the weather; the game against Zambia was a very difficult game. I think any team would have struggled just to put plays together but we have worked on what we can do in both dry and wet weather conditions,” added Alexander.
Today’s other semi-final match will see defending champions Zimbabwe taking on Tunisia.
The Barthés Trophy is an annual rugby union competition that features national U/20 teams from Africa, organised by Rugby Africa.
The tournament began in 2007 with Uganda as the host, which saw Namibia winning the title.
The tournament champion qualifies for next year’s World Rugby Junior Championship organised by the World Rugby.
The 2020 tournament was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tournament makes its fourth return to Nairobi, having previously hosted the 2019, 2021, and 2022 editions.
This year’s edition has attracted a total of eight of the best U/20 teams in Africa that will be racing for the ultimate ticket to this year’s World Rugby Junior Trophy, which will also take place in Nairobi in July this year.
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na