Namibia Rugby Team

The Colonial Period (1916-1990)

Rugby appeared in Namibia in 1916, two years after when soldiers from the Union of South Africa captured the German South West Africa colony. Then nine people gathered in Windhoek and decided to create the Damaraland Rugby Union. In the same year, the first rugby club in the colony, United, was founded. The first two matches of the team were played with a soccer ball, while the rugby was delivered from Cape Town only to the third game ^[1] . In the following decades, the Damaraland Rugby Union team, which recruited players from an ever-increasing number of local teams, made three tours to South Africa in 1925, 1929 and 1951. In addition, several South African teams visited the colony - students of Stellenbosch University in 1936 and Cape Town University in 1938 ^[1] .

In 1952, the Damaraland Rugby Union was renamed the Rugby Union of South West Africa and the regional team went to the south of the continent, where they played three matches by local provincial teams. Two years later, the team first took part in the Curry Cup , the South African provincial championship. In the first match, the Namibians, who chose the image of a zebra on a red background as an emblem, played with the Northern Transvaal team, which they lost with a score of 3:24 ^[1] . In 1955, Namibian rugby players held their first official international match. The rivals were the " British Lions ", who then conducted one of their South African tours. The hosts lost with a score of 0: 9. Subsequently, the British three more times visited the colony and each time came out victorious, although in the meeting in 1974 the South-West African team was close to victory, losing with a score of 16:23 ^[2] .

Continental Second Team (1990–2010)

In the spring of 1990, Namibia declared its independence. Founded in March of the same year, the Namibian Rugby Union did not manage to apply for the World Cup, which started in October 1991 and missed the tournament ^[3] . Their first match, which ended with a victory over the Zambian national team with a score of 33:18, “Velichivia” was played on March 24, 1990 ^[4] . In 1993, the Namibians entered the qualifying tournament for the 1995 World Cup . The team confidently took first place in the group stage of the first round, having once beat Zimbabwe, Kenya and the Arabian Gulf team . In the second round, the team was not so successful and lost the right to play the Ivorians at the world championship ^[5] .

For the first time, the Welvichia World Championship came in 1999 . In the final qualifying round, held in Moroccan Rabat , rugby players managed to beat all rivals, including taking revenge on the national team of Côte d'Ivoire. A few months before the tournament, a racist scandal occurred in the team - Namibian clubs and part of the public accused head coach Johan Venter of ignoring black athletes, which caused him to leave his post, and the team’s participation in the tournament was questioned for some time ^{[6] [7 ] [7 ] ]} . Nevertheless, the Velvichia settled internal disagreements and played at their debut World Cup, but their performance was not successful. The team fell into group C and consistently lost to all their rivals - Fiji (67:18), France (47:13) and Canada (72:11) ^[8] . However, in the overall standings, the Namibians did not become the worst - they beat the Italians by the difference in points ^[6] .

In 2000, the Namibian team first participated in a new continental tournament - the Africa Cup . The first success in the Welwitschia competition was achieved two years later. In that draw, the African Cup was also a decisive stage in the selection for the 2003 World Cup . In the two-match final, the Namibians met with the Tunisian national team and won only by additional indicators - the score after two meetings was 33:33, but the rugby players from Namibia made more attempts and got into the world championship ^[9] . At the World Championships, the Namibian national team was assigned to Group A together with the hosts of the Australian national team , as well as Argentina , Ireland and Romania . Before the championship, the atmosphere in the team was again spoiled by internal differences. Assistant coach Paul Kaplan and two defenders, Rian van Wake and Vincent Dreyer, left the team at the last gathering in protest against the tactics used by head coach Dave Waterman, as well as due to his constant absence from the national team ^[10] . At the championship itself, Waterson was fined by the organizers for unflattering reviews in his interviews about the competition judges ^[11] . These events did not help Velvichia during the tournament - just like four years before, they were defeated in all matches, including the Australians with a score of 142: 0, which was the largest “dry” defeat in the history of world championships. In the overall standings, the Namibian team took the last, twentieth place, earning only 28 points with 310 missed ^[6] .

In 2004, the Namibians won the Africa Cup for the second time. In the finals against the national team of Morocco, “Welwichia” won with a score of 39:22. However, African fans remembered the match for other reasons. The Moroccans chose extremely aggressive tactics on the field, which is why fights broke out several times during the game. In the second half of the meeting, two players of the Namibian national team, the flanker Shalk van der Merwe and the lok Joan Theron, were forced to leave the field because of broken faces, in all, the referee showed 2 red and 4 yellow cards for the match ^[9] . Two years later, Velvichia qualified for the third time in a row for the World Cup , having beaten the Moroccans in the final without any problems (52:15 in the sum of two matches). Nevertheless, the team again could not do without scandal. In the summer of 2007, Johan Venter, who again took the post of head coach, refused to attend the celebrations on the occasion of the arrival of the Webb Ellis Cup , organized by the French Embassy in Namibia, and was fired, and assistant Hakkis Hasselman became the head of it ^{[6] [12]} . Players of different levels were called up to the national team - in addition to the professionals who took part in the South African Curry Cup, there were also amateurs who had the main income outside of rugby. Before the tournament, the International Rugby Council decided to support small teams and allocated to the teams of Georgia , Portugal and Namibia one hundred thousand pounds to cover costs, which were distributed approximately two thousand per player ^[13] .

At the World Championship “Welwichia” fell into the same group as Argentina, France, Ireland and Georgia. And, although before the competition, the Namibians set themselves modest tasks - to beat the Georgians and prevent a complete defeat in matches with the others - they could not be completed ^[13] . The national team looked worthy in the first game of the group stage against the Irish - the “greens” set the final score 32:17 in their favor only in the last minutes, having missed two attempts in the second half of the meeting ^[14] . This performance was followed by two routs from the French (87:10) and the Argentines (63: 3). In the last match, which promised the Velvichia the possibility of a first victory at the World Championships, Namibia was defeated by Georgia with a score of 30: 0 ^[6] .

In 2009, the Namibian team again became a triumph for the Africa Cup, which, like seven years ago, provided access to the World Cup . In the semi-finals of Welwitschia, the Ivorians were defeated 54:14, bringing in 7 attempts. Hrisander Bota fullback earned 29 points in that match, among other things, who became the author of two attempts. In the final, Namibia met in a two-match confrontation with Tunisia. In these meetings, there was also a hero - he became a fly-hav Emil Wessels, who earned 17 points and allowed the team to win 40:23 in the sum of meetings ^[9] .

Modernity (since 2010)

The Namibian national team began to prepare for the 2011 World Cup a year and a half before its start. The Namibian rugby union reached an agreement with the South African and the Velvichias team, consisting mainly of national team players, played for two seasons in the Vodakom Cup , the second provincial tournament in South Africa after the Curry Cup. In 2010, the Namibians won only one match out of six, and in 2011, they drew one match with seven defeats. However, these matches gave rugby players regular playing practice and strengthened ties between team leaders ^[15] . In addition, in 2010, the Namibian team won the Nations Cup , a tournament created by the International Rugby Council to raise the level of small teams. The Welvichia did not lose a single match, successively winning all the teams with equal strength - Georgia, Romania and the second Scottish team ^[16] .

The flanker Jacques Burger , who became the champion of England in 2011 and named the best player of the club, was appointed captain of the national team at the tournament ^[17] . The Namibians were unlucky already at the draw - they fell into a kind of "death group" to Wales , South Africa , which defended the title, and two strongest "island teams" - Samoa and Fiji . In the first match, Velvichia met with Flying Fijians, and despite a defeat of 49:25, they managed to surprise specialists and fans with their good game, and Tens Kotze scored three drop goals, which was one of the best results in the history of world championships ^[18] . In the next matches, the Namibian team was practically unable to resist the rivals, losing to the Samans 49:12, “Springbox” ^{[comm. 1]} 87: 0 and the Welsh 81: 7 ^[6] .

In 2014, the African Cup once again became the final stage of qualification of the national teams of the continent. In the division 1A of the Welwichwich, we met with the national teams of Kenya, Zimbabwe and Madagascar. The last and decisive meeting was the game with the Madagascans, in which the Namibian team won with a crushing score of 89:10 and took the first place in the division, having selected for the world championship ^[19] . Once again, Velvichia confirmed their status as the second team in Africa in the 2015 tournament, which was held a few months before the World Cup. They beat all their rivals, and in the last match defeated the Zimbabwe team ^[20] . Preparation for the tournament also included participation in the Vodakom Cup, where the team won one meeting out of seven ^[21] .

At the 2015 World Cup , like four years ago, Jacques Burger was appointed team captain, for whom it was the third world championship in his career. Shortly before the tournament, Dani Vermeulen resigned as head coach, blaming the Namibian rugby union for the lack of support and racist allegations against the coach. His place was taken by former player of the Wales team Phil Davis, who previously held the position of assistant ^[22] . The Welvichia fell into Group C along with New Zealand , which, like South Africa four years before, defended the title, Argentina, Tonga and Georgia. The Namibians did not have the slightest chance of meeting All Black ^{[comm. 2]} (58:14) and The Cougars ^{[comm. 3]} (64:19), however in two other matches they showed that they are progressing from tournament to tournament. In the game with Tonga, which ended in a loss of 35:21, the Namibians made three record attempts for themselves. And in the match with the Georgians, the Namibian team was closest to its first success, but lost with a minimum difference of 16:17 and earned its first point in the world championships, and Tinus du Plessis was recognized as a player of the match. However, bad news was also possible - already at the 9th minute, due to a concussion, captain Jacques Burger left the field ^[23] .

In 2016, the Namibian national team became the six-time winner of the Africa Cup, and also took third place in the Nations Cup ^[24] . Since the same year, the Velvichia will again take part in the Curry Cup ^[25] , but their debut was not successful - they lost all the matches and took last place in the first division of the tournament ^[26] . The following season, the Africa Cup matches began the selection for the 2019 World Cup . Velvichia took part in the top division of the tournament and beat all their rivals without any problems, each time earning bonus points for the attacking game. The decisive championship match was held in Windhoek, where the Namibians defeated rivals from Kenya with a score of 45: 7, thereby winning the continental trophy for the fourth time in a row ^[27]

In addition to performances in the World Cup and African Cup, the Namibian national team (mainly the second line-up) acts as a club “ Welvichiasz ” ” ^[28] (or“ Windhoek Drought Welvichiasis ”) in South African club competitions such as the Curry Cup, Vodacom Cup (before 2015) and Rugby Challenge (since 2015, instead of the Vodacom Cup).

The Namibian national team traditionally plays in blue rugby women, the technical sponsor of the team is the New Zealand company Canterbury ^[29] . The emblem of the team depicts a screaming eagle , a bird that lives throughout Black Africa . The team’s official nickname is Velvichia, in honor of the Velvichia, an amazing , desert plant that grows in southern Angola and a large part of Namibia. Both of these symbols are national and are present on the emblem of the country .

Another team nickname is Biltongbury. It comes from the name of the popular biltong meat in Namibia and South Africa, the national Boer dish, the white population of these two countries. In 2007, the Namibian Rugby Union condemned the use of this nickname, seeing in it a connection with the apartheid regime . The head of the rugby union of the country, Cristo Alexander, commented on the statement of the body ^[30] :

There are no “Boers" in our team, we are a team for which players of different backgrounds play, but they were all chosen based on their merits. They are all now Velvichia.

Original text

We don't have 'boere' in the national team, but a national team which is representative of players with diverse backgrounds and who are selected on merit. They are all called the Welwitschias.

Despite this statement, some Western media continue to call the Namibian national team “Biltongbury” ^{[31] [32]} .

Namibia's home team uniform at World Championships

Namibian national team away form

Africa Cup

The Namibian national team has regularly played in the Africa Cup since its creation in 2000 (with the exception of 2010 and 2012, when the Welvichia refused to participate in competitions ^[33] ). The Namibians won the cup 7 times, twice lost in the final of the playoffs. Total dominance in the championship in 2014-2017 secured the team the status of the second on the continent after the “Springbox” ^[24] .

World Championships

The Namibian team has performed at five consecutive world championships since 1999, which has established it as the second African team after South Africa . The Velvichia owns several tournament anti-records - the largest “dry” defeat (142: 0 from the Australian national team in 2003), the most missed attempts in one match (then) and the largest number of matches without victories (19) ^[35] . The Namibians were closest to victory in 2015, when they lost to the Georgian team 16:17. In the same match, the team earned their first point at the World Championships (bonus for defeat with a difference of less than 7 points) ^[23] .

General Results

Table of all international meetings of the Namibian national team since 1990 (data relevant for June 2017) ^[37] :

Current squad

The composition of the team that played in the final match of the African Cup against the national team of Kenya on July 29, 2017 ^[38] :

Records and facts

• The record for the number of attempts for the Namibian national team belongs to the first captain of the team Gerhard Mans, who made 27 drifts in 27 matches ^[39] . He also holds records in the number of attempts in one match (6 against the Portuguese national team on April 21, 1990) and the number of matches as captain (26) ^{[40] [41]} .
• One of the most successful rugby players of the Namibian national team is Jacques Burger . He participated in three consecutive world championships, two of which were team captain (2011, 2015). As part of the Saracens , he became the three-time champion of England (2011, 2015, 2016) and Europe ( 2016 ), and as part of the Blue Bulls he became the winner of the Curry Cup (2009). In addition, Burger and are the Welchwich champions in the number of matches at world championships (11) ^[42] .
• Before independence, rugby players of South West Africa had the right to play for the national team of South Africa. The most famous rugby player who was born in the colony but chose the team of his southern neighbor, Percy Montgomery , who in 2007 became the top scorer of the World Cup and until 2008 held the Springbox record for points and matches.
• In 2003, Namibian participated in the Rugby and Cricket World Championships , becoming the only athlete to play at the world championships in these sports for one year ^[43] .

• Namibia Rugby Team Official Website
• Official website of the Namibian Rugby Union