Windhoek – Winless in all twelve matches played so far in their Currie Cup campaign, tourney whipping boys the Windhoek Draught Welwitschias face another insurmountable task – going into round thirteen of South Africa’s 2nd tier rugby competition.
The clearly out of sorts Namibian amateurs will have their backs to the wall when they confront hosts Vodacom Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, South Africa tomorrow afternoon at 16h00.
Beleaguered coach John Williams has made one positional change that sees find of the season, the versatile Philip Nashikaku, shifting to outside centre from his favourite wing position.
The rest of the starting line-up remains the same.
1 Schalk Bergh
2 Petri Burger
3 Hauta Veii
4 Alberto Engelbrecht
5 Wickus Davis
6 Zayne Groenewaldt
7 Morné Blom
8 Johan Wohler
9 Cameron Klassen
10 Mahco Prinsloo
11 Malcolm Moore
12 Francois Wiese (C)
13 Phillip Nashikaku
14 Justin Nel
15 Riaan van Zyl
Reserves
16 Niel van Vuuren
17 Ignus Tripodi
18 Johan Luttigh
19 Max Katjijeko
20 JC Winkler
21 Shaun Kaizemi
22 M P Pretorius
Kenyans out to break hoodoo tag against hosts Namibia
In the meantime, the Namibian senior rugby team play host to the visiting Kenyan side in the second round of the Confederation of Africa Rugby (CAR) Cup at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek on Saturday at 15h00.
In previous encounters the hosts have always enjoyed the upper hand over the visitors but the Kenyans, generally considered bad travellers, are an improved unit and come into the match in high spirits following a convincing 61-15 thrashing of Zimbabwe in Harare last weekend.
Having missed the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Cup by the skin of their teeth in England last year at the expense of Saturday’s opponents, the fast improving Kenyans are like men possessed and will be out to register their first victory over Namibia on home soil.
To demonstrate their seriousness and determination to break their hoodoo tag against Namibia, the Kenyans touched down in Windhoek last Sunday straight from Harare in a bid to acclimatize sufficiently to Namibia’s freezing weather.
Namibia currently sit second on the log with maximum points after dispatching Uganda 40-31 in a tightly contested clash in Kampala last month. The Namibian squad will be announced tomorrow morning.