By Otniel Hembapu
WINDHOEK – Prime Minister, Hage Geingob, yesterday had nothing but plenty of praises and blessings for the national rugby team, the Welwitschias, for achieving their 5th consecutive qualification to the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Cup.
In his short but punchy motivational speech, Geingob reassured the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) management and team members that government will support the team in all its endeavours, all the way to England next year, as has been the case during their participation at the last four editions of the world rugby pierce.
Despite the reassurance, the country’s Premier urged the entire NRU delegation to start burning the midnight oil in making sure Namibia moves away from its usual habit of going to the World Cup as mere participants and rather strive to leave a mark on the international rugby stage.
Geingob, who also called on corporate companies to come on board and financially assist the union adequately prepare the team ahead of next year, congratulated the NRU and the Welwitschias for their outstanding performance over the weekend. In his letter, he said the team’s accomplishment exemplifies the bravery and ‘never-say-die’ spirit of the Namibian nation.
An evidently excited Geingob called on the boys to earmark next year’s competition as their time to conquer the world. A year to make history and hopefully record their first ever wins at the World Cup.
But the Premier’s call didn’t fall on deaf eyes, with NRU President Bradley Basson promising that the world will see an entirely different Namibian team, that is ready to conquer the world and fly the Namibian flag high amongst other nations on the international arena.
As he earlier promised, Basson said: “The boys showed us that Namibia cannot be easily written off as one of the greatest rugby nations in the world. As I said before, the world will be in for a shock when we run onto the field on 24 September 2015 in England against the New Zealand All Blacks because we will give them a good run for their money and even win, everything is possible,” he enthused.
Namibia has so far participated in the Rugby World Cup on four occasions – in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. The team has, however, so far failed to win a single game. Prior to their qualification, Namibia thrashed Madagascar by 89-10 to win the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) qualification Tournament and subsequently booked their place in England 2015.