RWC: Uruguay versus Namibia

ROGER THOMPSON, FORMER NATIONAL ACADEMY MANAGER AND PASSIONATE NAMIBIAN TEAM SUPPORTER, WRITES:

To the Namibian rugby team at the Rugby World Cup.

We wish you all the best with your game against Uruguay on Wednesday.

We never expected results to go our way against the powerhouses we faced to date; however, our performance has been a bit of a letdown.

We are well aware of all the challenges the team faced in preparation, the difference in HP grants for Tier 1 and Tier 2, resources, coaching personnel, etc. Let’s put that aside and focus on the task at hand.

We still believe in this team and what it can achieve. The historical first win is still on the cards, and having coached most of the players and tracked their pathway through the U20s and the National Academy to see most of them win their first cap, I know they have the character to rise in the face of this challenge.

The pressure is on Uruguay, as the rugby world expects them to beat us.

You are a robust, resilient, and skilful group of players with a leadership group with huge experience to get the win. We need this win to resuscitate the high-performance development of the game locally.

We expect the leaders to drive the belief within the group after buy-in from coaches to get everyone on the same page about how we aim to achieve the goal.

We have grown most parts of our game over the last few years, and I compliment the current coaching group and specialists for what they have done to develop our game model.

We would really like to see WR deliver a meaningful and sustainable competition model for unions outside of the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship that accelerates the competitiveness of the global game.

After the WC debrief in December, we would like to see a sustainable global competition model for emerging nations, to be implemented as early as 2024.

Enhancing competition opportunity, meaning, and competitiveness for emerging nations is critical to the future growth, prosperity, and sustainability of the global game; however, Namibia, with its proud history of having competed in seven World Cups, should be at the forefront, seeing us play Georgia, Italy, Tonga, Japan, Portugal, and Uruguay regularly over the next three years.

Our belief is in nothing less than a win. We are the Land of the Brave.

We expect the bravery and courage showcased; it’s the essence of who we are.

Wishing the leaders and players all the best.

It’s unfortunate for Buffy, however, Torsten and the rest will make sure we stick to the coaching processes in achieving that memorable win.

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