U20 squad falling behind in three-horse race

The ugly truth is staring Namibian rugby in the face, that some concern and introspection is needed regarding the health of its pipeline of upcoming junior teams – which seems to have stagnated in recent years while its continental challengers are flourishing.

Namibia rather narrowly avoided an embarrassing result in Sunday’s bronze final against Tunisia at the 2024 Rugby Africa Under-20 Barthés Cup tournament in Harare.

In the end, the Namibians pulled away in the final minutes for a 26-15 win – although they held only a 6-5 lead at halftime and trailed twice in the second half (11-12 and 14-15) with less than 20 minutes to go.

Finishing fourth would have been Namibia’s worst-ever result in the tournament and would have forced the country to engage in a promotion-relegation match with Rugby Africa’s second division teams.

As things stand, 2023 and 2024 have been the only years in which Namibia has finished as low as third place behind Zimbabwe (2023 champions) and Kenya (winners last Sunday).

After winning the Barthés Trophy consecutively from 2012 to 2018, Namibia’s domination has been thoroughly shaken off by these two rivals. In five tournaments since then, Namibia has failed to secure the winner’s prize of qualifying for the World Rugby U20 Trophy tournament – and will once again be absent at this year’s event to be hosted in Scotland.

Part of the equation since 2019 has been Rugby Africa’s contentious ruling for participating teams that reads: “Eligible players who are playing rugby outside the country they are representing are limited to four per squad in the Rugby Africa U20 Barthés Trophy. The reason for this exclusion is that Rugby Africa wants to encourage underage development and competition pathways among its member unions.”

This means that Namibia, and perhaps to some extent Zimbabwe, are being limited in their use of eligible players at South African universities or rugby academies – which hardly seems fair.

This arbitrary limit of four “foreign-based” players do not apply to the qualifier for World Rugby’s U20 Trophy – a fiercely competitive tournament with teams from every continent, striving to be promoted to the U20 World Championship’s top twelve contenders.

Namibia’s late change of head coach, bringing in Allister Coetzee to replace Ryan de la Harpe at the last moment after a fall-out, would certainly have been a disruption.

In the just concluded tournament, former Oakdale Landbouskool and SWD u18 hooker Armand Combrinck has been one of the few individual finds for Namibia that look ready to be considered for higher honours. Not to say that more players won’t put their careers on an upward curve soon, but few really stuck their hands up to be fast-tracked.

Sadly, the regular pathway has been severely damaged – where former national head coach Phil Davies (2015-2019) over the years gladly picked a long list of outstanding youngsters into his Test squad and even exposed them off the bench, after they had proven their potential at the World Rugby Trophy.



TUNISIAN RESISTANCE

On Sunday, two penalties by flyhalf Michael Koopman put Namibia ahead by just 6-5 by halftime against Tunisia.

The North Africans lost a player to a yellow card after 45 minutes, their second of the match after an earlier sin-binning in the first half. Namibia capitalised to work unmarked left wing Liam Dick over in the corner with a skip pass.

Koopman could not convert (11-5), while Tunisia struck next with their pack creating a converted try with a pick-and-go attack from close range (11-12). After the kickers each added a penalty, Namibia found themselves 14-15 behind with less than 20 minutes to go.

Namibia finally finished stronger with Armand Combrinck pouncing on a bouncing ball from an uncontrolled Tunisia lineout deflection on their own goalline, before Liam Dick was sent over for his second try of the match, receiving from Koopman in midfield and slipping past one defender.



THE TASTE OF BRONZE

The bronze medals can hardly be satisfying for Namibia, who lost their opener against Kenya (28-34) despite a fightback from 6-23 at halftime.

The clash with 2023 title holders Zimbabwe in front of a packed and boisterous crowd in Harare was a big occasion, with the junior Sables rising to a 35-23 win.

In Sunday’s final, Zimbabwe however failed to deliver the same fireworks, with small errors leading to frustration and a lack of their normal cohesion, as Kenya won 28-13, adding another title after their 2019 and 2021 successes as hosts in Nairobi.