Maurice Kambukwe
WINDHOEK – Trustco United head coach Robbie Dickson yesterday joined other local rugby experts in weighing and cross-examining the overall performance of Namibia’s senior rugby team against South Africa over the weekend at the ongoing Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Namibia’s rugby fifteen, the Welwitschias, on Saturday suffered their second consecutive defeat at the World Cup, after the Namibian amateurs crushed to a 03-57 defeat against the rampaging Springbok of South Africa during their Pool B clash match at the City of Toyota Stadium in Toyota City.
Gauging the team’s performance, Dickson said despite the Welwitschias going down 03-57 to their southern African neighbours, he was particularly impressed with the general display of the Namibian side against a highly ranked country such as South Africa, who are currently ranked 5th in the world.
Dickson strongly believes that the team could have done better if they had kept possession and used the ball optimally.
“Obviously South Africa is a big team but I feel we played well compared to our first match. The only problem was that we could not keep possession, that really affected us a lot because our forwards could not go forward and break their defence,” said Dickson, who also formerly coach the country’s Sevens team.
Former Welwitschias mentor and current Unam rugby team gaffer Johan Diergaardt also shared similar sentiments, saying the team’s defence was not as solid as one would have liked and the forwards overall input was not satisfactory.
“We couldn’t keep up possession in the last 15 minutes of the match, the pressure was high and that’s where they scored 7 of those 9 tries. Our forwards were also not that active because most of the balls that were kicked upward were just going straight into the hands of the South Africa defence. But generally speaking, the team’s performance was great compared to the previous match against Italy,” said Diergaardt.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo Pedro who is head coach of Reho Falcons Rugby Club, said that the team didn’t do much wrong on the day but was just up against a strong team.
“It’s obviously South Africa, which is a tier-one rugby playing country, but I really have to say it is a positive result against the Springboks. We played against a quality team. But I think we can be proud of the performance generally. Heading into the next match against New Zealand, we are still in for a rough ride. I don’t foresee Namibia winning against such a big team but it’s a good development process for the team,” added Pedro.
The Welwitschias will return to action this coming weekend when they square off against reigning world champions the All Blacks of New Zealand on Sunday, 6 October.