Who will join South Africa at RWC 2007 in France ?
Casablanca, 10 November; Almost two years ago the first of a series of Rugby World Cup qualfying matches was played to determine which African team will join South Africa as the continent’s representatives at the Rugby World Cup in France. Tomorrow this comes to an end when Morocco host Namibia in the final match at STADE C.O.C in Casablanca. Two weeks ago Namibia moved a step closer to qualification for France 2007 when they beat Morocco 25-8 in Windhoek in the first leg of the World Cup Qualifier. The result in Windhoek has left Morocco with a mountain to climb. They must beat Namibia by a clear 19 points to win the two match series and book their places for France.
Exactly 4 years ago Namibia found themselves in a similar situation when they traveled to Tunis to face Tunisia. Namibia had won the first match in Windhoek 24-17, Tunisia then won the return match with the exact same score but Namibia qualified having scored four tries to three. Judged on previous encounters between the two sides, chances are very good that Saturday’s match will again go down to the wire. Namibia arrived in the Casablanca with a side that showed three changes from the one which won the first encounter. Loose-forward Schalk van der Merwe replaces Tinus du Plessis who will start on the bench, Rodger Thompson and Gideon van der Berg have also been elevated to the starting line-up at the expense of Lu-Wayne Botes and Johannes Redelinghuys respectively. Free State Cheetah’s star Hendrik Meyer again is not available for his country as a result of unresolved issues between his province and the Namibian Rugby Union.
The loser of this encounter has a second but difficult chance through répechage, playing the loser of the qualifier between Portugal and Georgia and then Uruguay to get to France. France’s Romain Poite has been appointed as referee.
The Namibian team: 15 Heini Bock, 14 Guillaume Nel, 13 Rodger Thompson, 12 Corné Powell, 11 Melrick Africa, 10 Emile Wessels, 9 Pieter Rossouw, 8 Jacques Burger, 7 Schalk van der Merwe, 6 Herman Lintvelt, 5 Uakazuvaka Kazombiaze, 4 Heino Senekal, 3 Gideon van der Berg, 2 Johannes Meyer, 1 Kees Lensing (captain)
Replacements: 16 Morné Louw, 17 Nico Genis, 18 Deon Mouton, 19 Eugene Jantjies, 20 Tinus du Plessis , 21 Nico Esterhuize, 22 Johannes Redelinghuys
African teams at RWC
1987: Zimbabwe
1991: Zimbabwe
1995: South Africa & Cote de Ivoire
1999: South Africa & Namibia
2003: South Africa & Namibia