The Battle for "Africa 1"
Not sure who I would want to get the Africa 1 berth, I always like to see new blood amongst the minnows getting to experience the big stage, but also have a soft spot for Namibia...
"Unbelievable" prize awaits African qualifier
(RUGBYWORLDCUP.COM) Friday 13 November 2009
There is no bigger carrot for Tunisia and Namibia to negotiate their Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifying tussle over the next fortnight than to join world champions South Africa in Pool D at the showpiece in New Zealand.
Tunisia coach Danie de Villiers himself was born in South Africa and admits it would be "emotional" to listen to their anthem, while Namibia captain Kees Lensing described the chance to run out against the Springboks at the North Harbour Stadium on 22 September 2011 as "unbelievable".
"The biggest thing is we support South Africa when they play in the Tri Nations, they are like our brothers, they are our next door neighbours," explained Lensing.
"For a lot of the young guys their idols and mentors are in the South Africa team so for them to get the chance to play against Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez is unbelievable.
"It is a little bit difficult for the amateurs, it can be a little bit of stage fright for these guys, even when you remember they are just a human being! They are brilliant at what they do.
A memory to cherish
"It would be an unbelievable experience. They are world champs and to play against them is something to remember and cherish for the rest of your life.
"There is huge expectation, not just for us as players or our families, but the whole of Namibia is behind us. Under John (Williams) there has been a lot of improvement and Namibian Rugby has really moved forward, we have really moved on and got out of a hole we were in."
Coach Williams is not allowing the prospect of playing South Africa, Wales, Fiji and Samoa at RWC 2011 distract his players, admitting they "won't put the cart in front of the horse", but Namibia's experience of playing at three World Cups earns them the tag of favourites in the first leg at the Stade El Menzah in Tunis on Saturday.
"To get to this stage of competition there must be something in you, although everybody will tag us as favourites we know what is expected of us, what is expected of the game and we approach it as every other game," explained Williams.
"It is our intention to qualify and I am sure it is Tunisia's intention to qualify as well. We never planned just to get to the final, we planned to qualify for 2011. We won't put the cart in front of the horse, we haven't done that. We know what is expected and will take tomorrow's game, then go home and take the next match and only then concentrate on the future."
Home advantage
Namibia may have the edge in experience on the World Cup stage, but history is not on their side in Tunisia, having not beaten their African rivals away from home and De Villiers believes his charges can set themselves up well for the second leg in Windhoek on 28 November, even if injuries have robbed him of three players.
"We are a little bit unfortunate that we have three injuries but since the beginning we've been working with a squad of 32 players, so obviously it would have been nice to have them, but the guys filling in their place will be up to the task," insisted De Villiers, who coached Tunisia's team at RWC Sevens 2009 earlier this year.
"If you look at the history between Namibia and Tunisia it is quite interesting, we've played each other five times. Tunisia has won three times, the home team has always won.
"It's going to be difficult, we need to show Namibia the respect they deserve, they have represented Africa in three World Cups, but honestly yes I feel we are in with a good chance. There is a very good spirit in the camp. The guys know that it's their big opportunity and I think they're ready to go.
De Villiers is confident they know enough about Namibia to snatch a win and inch closer to qualifying for their first ever Rugby World Cup and becoming the fifth African nation to grace that stage, following in the footsteps of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and Namibia.
Playing our own game
"We know where Namibia's strength is and we know they have a very good and experienced pack of forwards. They are the type of team which plays an aggressive game which is something we like. I think our backline is very competitive, a lot of those guys play for me on the Sevens circuit so there is a lot of skills and speed."
The return of key players based in South Africa for Namibia would suggest they have the necessary strength to defeat a spirited Tunisia team, although the fact their hosts are something of an unknown quantity that Tunisia could be a concern for Williams.
"We haven't seen that much of Tunisia, it's difficult in Africa, we don't see a lot of footage but we try to play a certain type of game and that's what we will try tomorrow. We will play our game and have them adapt to the way we want to play."
Lensing insists it is "better" to play the first leg away from home and having bounced back from a 13-13 draw with Ivory Coast in June to run riot and win 54-14 on home soil, playing away will hold no fear for Namibia. Tunisia though were convincing winners in their own semi final, defeating Uganda 79-30 on aggregate.
Whether having the second leg at the Hage Geingob Stadium will work in Namibia's favour remains to be seen, but for Tunisia prop and captain Hedi Souid the match on Saturday is the biggest of his career and one with a special twist as he will lead out a side featuring his big brother Moured at number 8.
Match details
TUNISIA: 1. Hedi Souid (captain) 2. Aziz Kassar 3. Akram Aouamri 4. Amara Dridi 5. Abdelmajid Zemzem 6. Kaled Zegden 7. Mohamed Ben Hmida 8. Moured Souid 9. Sabri Gmir 10. Lofti Bensellem 11. Abbes Kherfani 12. Amor Mezgar 13. Amor Hamdi 14. Haithem Cheili 15. Sabeur Charrada.
Replacements: 16. Noktar Guetari 17. Sari Limevi 18. Chahir Aouadi 19. Amine Gharsallah 20. Mohamed Ali Kochlef 21. Aimen Gloulou 22. Mohamed Garali.
NAMIBIA: 1. Kees Lensing 2. Hugo Horn 3. Jane du Toit 4. Wacca Kazombiaze 5. Nico Esterhuyse 6. Jacques Burger 7. Jacques Nieuwenhuis 8. Tinus du Plessis 9. Jurie van Tonder 10. Emile Wessels 11. Heini Bock 12. Tinus Venter 13. Piet van Zyl 14. Bradley Langenhoven 15. Chrysander Botha.
Replacements: 16. Shaun Esterhuizen 17. Marius Visser 18. Heinz Koll 19. PJ van Lill 20. Eugene Jantjies 21. Robert Harridge 22. David Philander.
Namibia inch closer to RWC 2011 qualification
(RUGBYWORLDCUP.COM) Saturday 14 November 2009
By Andrea Wiggins
From Tunis
Namibia will take a slender five point advantage into the home leg of their African play-off for a place at Rugby World Cup 2011 after edging a closely fought encounter with Tunisia 18-13 at the Stade El Menzah.
The five previous meetings behind these African rivals had all been won the by home side, three of them by the Tunisians so an away win for Namibia would prove a confidence booster ahead of the home leg in Windhoek on 28 November.
In a match dominated by Namibia's forwards, it was their full back Chrysander Botha who literally got off to a flying start in the third minute, gathering an exceptional cross field pass and, with an explosion of pace, left enough space between him and the chasing Tunisians to score under the posts.
Having converted his try, the visitors settled down quickly with a 7-0 lead.
If the home team were rattled by the ease with which Botha seared through their defence, they regrouped quickly under the leadership of Hedi Souid and won a series of penalty kicks which saw the score close to 7-6 midway through the first half.
The teams went in at half time at 10-6, both knowing they had missed opportunities to add to their tally, Tunisia driving forward with speed but unable to cross the line and allowing Namibian to kick a penalty just before the whistle.
Namibia had been dominant in the scrum for much of the first half, their experience and power reflected in their ability to halt Tunisia's progress, leading home coach Danie de Villiers to make a significant change at scrum half, replacing Aziz Kassar with Chahir Aouadi.
Further changes from Tunisia, including the introduction of Mohamed Ali Kochlef, prop Sami Limevi and Aymen Gloulou, led to Tunisia's best spell of the game, which saw last gasp tackles deny them tries on two occasions.
The changes had had the desired effect and the forwards began to provide greater assistance to the backline, who enjoyed creative cohesion forged under the guidance of De Villiers in the Tunisia Sevens team.
However, if Namibia's first try was one of pace and agility, their second was born from power and perseverance as they worked the Tunisia defensive line to force an opening deep in the corner. The conversion was missed, but Namibia looked comfortable at 15-6 midway through the second half.
Tunisia finally saw some reward for their efforts when wing Abbes Kherfani touched down near the corner flag to the jubilation of the small but passionate crowd. Lofti Bensellem, who had missed with two drop goal attempts, kicked the conversion to cut the deficit to 15-13.
Namibia, though, showed their big match experience, having graced the Rugby World Cup stage three times before, and stole a penalty kick in the 77th minute to break their duck on Tunisian soil.
The two sides will come face to face again at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek in two weeks time, both confident they can win if they play to their relative strengths to take their place alongside South Africa, Wales, Fiji and Samoa in Pool D.
Post match reaction
Namibia captain Kees Lensing: "I'm glad about the result but I think as a team we know we can play a lot better and we made it too hard for us in the second half. Luckily we have two weeks to prepare for the next game, the last game, and hopefully we can improve because if we want to go to the World Cup we will have to improve 100%.
Namibia coach John Williams: "I wasn't that worried at 7-6, 15-13 I was worried because I could see my guys were tired. But at 7-6 you know you had a feel for the game, I could see that sometimes we were making silly mistakes, you know knocking the ball on in the 22, five metres from the try-line, but when they got their try it was against play. We dominated scrums but we managed to pull through."
Tunisia coach Danie de Villiers: "A loss is a loss, we had our opportunities, I think it is a game of lost opportunities, we created chances in the first half and we just didn't convert that. It is going to be tough now, but I think we have seen today that the two teams are fairly equal. This is the first time that Namibia has won in Tunisia, and depending on how we react from this I am sure we are in with a chance to maybe repeat what they did here in Windhoek."
Match details
TUNISIA: 1. Hedi Souid (captain) 2. Aziz Kassar 3. Akram Aouamri 4. Amara Dridi 5. Abdelmajid Zemzem 6. Kaled Zegden 7. Mohamed Ben Hmida 8. Moured Souid 9. Sabri Gmir 10. Lofti Bensellem 11. Abbes Kherfani 12. Amor Mezgar 13. Amor Hamdi 14. Haithem Chelly 15. Sabeur Charrada.
Replacements: 16. Noktar Guetari 17. Sari Limevi 18. Chahir Aouadi 19. Amine Gharsallah 20. Mohamed Ali Kochlef 21. Aimen Gloulou 22. Mohamed Garali.
NAMIBIA: 1. Kees Lensing (captain) 2. Hugo Horn 3. Jane du Toit 4. Wacca Kazombiaze 5. Nico Esterhuyse 6. Jacques Burger 7. Jacques Nieuwenhuis 8. Tinus du Plessis 9. Jurie van Tonder 10. Emile Wessels 11. Heini Bock 12. Tinus Venter 13. Piet van Zyl 14. Bradley Langenhoven 15. Chrysander Botha.
Replacements: 16. Shaun Esterhuizen 17. Marius Visser 18. Heinz Koll 19. PJ van Lill 20. Eugene Jantjies 21. Robert Herridge 22. David Philander.
