Theron Kolokwe
3 July 2009
Windhoek — The national rugby team, the Welwitschias, followed their disappointing 13-13 draw in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with a quality and dominant 54-14 win at home in the return leg last week.
After the match, the question on everybody's lips was: What went wrong in Abidjan? Who better to answer this question other that the coach himself, John Williams, and experienced forward Wacca Kazombiaze.
Williams and Kazombiaze had only bad things to say when approached by the Economist about the hospitality they received in Ivory Coast.
"The conditions in Abidjan were not conducive to say the least. It was hot, it rained the whole time and the food was very bad," said Williams.
"The hospitality in Abidjan was the worst ever I have seen in my Rugby career," said Kazombiaze.
The coach was quick to point out the importance of playing the second leg at home, stating that this was important because it helped the young players because they were in familiar surroundings.
The coach said that Ivory Coast was a black hole to his team so it did not know what to expect until it got there.
"In the first leg, we didn't know what to expect, so mentally the team was affected and this resulted in [our] below par performance. When we got back, we knew what to expect, we studied our opponents and we were better prepared and really delivered as you saw," said Williams.
Kazombiaze pointed out that the Ivorians were playing mind games by moving the match to Sunday instead of the original date of Saturday.
"The other thing was, we went their knowing we are playing on Saturday only to arrive and find that they had moved the game to Sunday. This had a negative effect on us mentally," he said.
The starting line up in Abidjan, all the players from nine to 15, were under 25 years old and were playing away from home for the first time. Kazombiaze said this was a good lesson for them as they improved in the return match.
"Coaches and management were not happy with the team's performance, so when we got back we were immediately put through hard training, as difficult as it was it paid off as you saw. Management spoke very hard to the senior players and asked us to pull through and help the younger ones," said Kazombiaze.
As much as it was a below-par performance, the coach took some positives from the match.
"The players realised we let ourselves down in Abidjan. We knew we had to perform better in the return leg. It was not what was expected, but it was a good result because we didn't lose," said Williams.
However the team got to the finals. Its critics and admirers would have taken it either way at the beginning if they had been told that the team would be in the finals.
The young players are more experienced and the team has a bit of time to prepare for the final against Tunisia.
For now, it is just the long wait until November when the nation's world cup dreams will be decided.
Final opponents Tunisia had very little trouble brushing aside Uganda to book their date will Namibia. They beat the Central African nation 38-13 in the second leg after the 41-17 hammering in the first leg.
"It would be foolish to say that we are going to qualify at this stage because we do not know what to expect from Tunisia. That being said, I can promise you that when the first leg comes around we will be ready," said Williams.
"Tunisia are a very physical side who will look to scrum hard and fight for every ball, so we will need to perform at our very best to overcome them," he added.
Kazombiaze was around the last time Namibia played against Tunisia and remembers them all too well.
"We played them in the 2007 qualifiers and they are not easy opponents because most of their players play in the French league. In order to win, we are going to have to work three times harder than we did against the Ivory Coast," he said.
As it proved to be an advantage playing the second leg at home against Ivory Coast, the second leg of the final will also be at the Hage Geingob Stadium. Is this an advantage for Namibia?
"It will all depend on what happens in the first game.
"If we avoid defeat or even win in Tunis then we will stand a very good chance. The availability of players and the conditions of this particular tie will have a huge impact on the result also," Williams said.
Kazombiaze has an idea or two on how the team should approach the game.
"The only thing that needs to happen for us to beat them is to dominate at the front, slowdown the ball at every break and compete on the loose ball. We also have to work on our attacking lines and build our strategy from theirs," he said
Both the coach and Kazombiaze called on the fans to support the team, as it needs to get through with this tough encounter.
The winner of this encounter will automatically qualify for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand as Africa's representative and also be crowned the Africa Cup champion. The loser will be given a chance through a cross-continental battle where teams will compete for the last remaining slot in a play-off final.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Namibia Economist. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
