The addition of five players from the Blue Bulls has taken the Namibian Invitations XV, to play a South African selection in Windhoek next Friday, a step closer to completion.
Rugby 365 reports that the Namibian Invitation team were earlier denied the services of players from the Sharks, Cheetahs and Western Province – who all refused to release invited players.
However, the Bulls have come to the team’s rescue.
Five Springboks in Jaco van der Westhuizen, Derick Hougaard, Wayne Julies, Marco Wentzel and Danie Coetzee have also been selected for the Namibia XV that will face Peter de Villiers SA XV in Windhoek next Friday, May 29.
Also bolstering the invitation side are six players with Super 14 experience.
They are Frikkie Welsh, John Mametsa, JP Joubert, Kees Lensing, Ruan Vermeulen and Jacques Burger.
Namibian XV: 15 Jaco van der Westhuizen (Japan), 14 Llewelyn Winckler (Namibia), 13 Frikkie Welsh (Montpellier, France), 12 Wayne Julies (Blue Bulls), 11 John Mametsa (Blue Bulls), 10 Derick Hougaard (Leicester), 9 JP Joubert (Blue Bulls), 8 Dries van Schalkwyk (Blue Bulls), 7 Jacques Nieuwenhuis (Namibia), 6 Jacques Burger (Namibia), 5 Nico Esterhuizen (Namibia), 4 Marco Wentzel (Leicester), 3 Ruan Vermeulen (Blue Bulls), 2 Danie Coetzee (London Irish), 1 Kees Lensing (Namibia, captain).
Replacements: 16 Hugo Horn (Namibia), 17 Johnny Redelinghuys (Namibia), 18 Fudge Mabeta (Blue Bulls), 19 AN Other (Namibia), 20 AN Other (Namibia), 21 Jurie van Tonder (Namibia), 22 Chrisander Botha (Namibia).
* The unnamed replacements will be announced on Tuesday by coach John Williams (Namibia).
Date: Friday, May 29
Venue: Hage Geingob Stadium, Windhoek
Kick-off: 18.00 (16.00 GMT)
Referee: TBC
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this is sad
@robdylan (Comment 1) : 😕 😆
i’m sure it’d be cheaper to fly the 9 Nam guys to Pretoria than it is to fly the Boks and the Bulls to Namibia. 😉
where can we bet on what time the first punch up starts? :mgreen:
@robdylan (Comment 1) : I agree when Bok rugby comes second to the interests of Provinces it shows you just who is in control, would never happen in NZ, they value the All Blacks more than anything else!!
most of the guys wouldnt have made it into the final bok squad anyways so i think its better if they focus on getting the guys rested and ready for the CC
@Whindy (Comment 5) : i do understand your thinking, but i dont see this match as important enough, what if smittie or biz or anyone else has a season ending injury?
@JarsonX (Comment 7) : Disagree, Jason, we are about to take the Lions on and we made this mistake last time, we never played a warm up game it takes time for a team to gel. So I think this is an important game, Smittie will be playing in this game!! We were meant to play the M?ori’s but some political bulshit stopped that. We will not have played together as a team when we take on the Lions that is not great preparation. Remembering they will have played about 5 games by then and should know each other quite well. I hear you if you say but the majority of the team has been together and Know each other but they have also had almost a season playing s14 and it takes time to adapt to another coach’s philosophy’s and that why I think this is actually a very important game
@Whindy (Comment 8) : i get that but half the team(bulls) aint playing in this remember. Lets agree to disagree 😉
@JarsonX (Comment 9) : cool bananas 😀
btw im extremely selfish cause im surrounded by bulls supporters, at work and home, so i always want the sharks to be as strong as possible 😀
I see the match isn’t even on TV. 🙁
@Whindy (Comment 5) : they have to, all contracts are held by nzru. it is the way it should be. if you play s14 you can’t play for anyone but the kiwis. that is the way it should be. sa rugby needs to contract its top players.