OWN CORRESPONDENT, Toulouse | Tuesday 5.00pm.
NAMIBIA’s World Cup squad are realists.
The African minnows recognise that they have no chance of qualifying for the closing stages of the 20-team tournament and have already made plans to play a friendly match against the German national team in Frankfurt on Sunday, October 17.
The Namibians fully expect their involvement in the Cup to be over by October 14 when they play their final Group C match against Canada in Toulouse.
Having been beaten 67-18 in their opener by Fiji, the World Cup rookies have no great expectations of their meeting with France in Bordeaux on Friday.
”We had hoped to have had some success against Fiji, but that didn’t happen,” said coach Rudy Joubert. ”We’d really hoped to play a lot better.
”Now our goal has to be creating good publicity for rugby at home.”
The Kudus simply lack the players to make a major impact on the international stage. They have only 500 senior players and just 700 juniors from a population of 1.6 million in the former South West Africa.
Hooker Hugo Horn is suffering from an ankle injury ahead of the match against France – the only serious concern for Joubert – but Namibia are still expected to make three or four changes for the France match, said team manager Walter Don.
Both wings, Dick Farmer and Deon Mouton, are expected to recover from niggling injuries in time to be available for selection.
Meanwhile, France are likely to make several changes in their team, after winning their campaign opener over Canada 33-20 on Sunday.
Begles lock Olivier Brouzet, who was on the bench because of a sore back, may replace Abdel Benazzi although the former French captain was the pick of the French forwards on Sunday.
Toulouse wing Xavier Garbajosa injured his thigh against Canada and could be replaced by Philippe Bernat-Salles.
Christophe Lamaison, whose accurate kicking transformed the French backs when he came on against Canada may be retained at flyhalf instead of Thomas Castaignede, who switched to fullback.
”We must improve our kicking game,” said French coach Jean-Claude Skrela. — Reuters, AFP