Burger leads Namibia into battle
Flank Jacques Burger, from English Premiership club Saracens, will captain rank outsiders Namibia at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand next month.
The south-west Africa nation make their Group D debut on September 10 against Fiji in Rotorua and then tackle Samoa at the same venue four days later, title holders South Africa in North Shore on September 22 and Wales in New Plymouth after a three-day break.
Burger and fellow flank Jacques Nieuwenhuis from French club Aurillac are the stars of a squad named by coach Johan Diergaardt in the Namibian capital Wednesday that also includes local and South Africa-based players.
The team did not impress in the mid-year IRB Nations Cup, missing many kicks at goal and lacking backline invention as they lost to hosts Romania and Georgia and narrowly defeated non-World Cup qualifiers Portugal.
Few will envy Diergaardt as he prepares the national team of a large but thinly populated country which suffered a World Cup record 0-142 defeat by hosts Australia at the 2003 tournament.
"We have blended youth and experience and must not be compared with other Namibian World Cup squads as we are the first to spend more than two years preparing for the tournament," said the coach.
Burger is among 13 survivors of the Namibia 2007 squad that lost against Ireland (17-327), hosts France (10-87), Argentina (3-63) and Georgia (0-30) and failed to collect a solitary point.
The squad announcement came just days after Namibia Rugby Union President Buks Bok resigned in protest at a lack of government funding for the representatives of a minority sport in a nation where football has the most appeal.
Namibia:
Backs: Johannes Bock, Chrysander Botha, Hendrik Dames, Darryl de la Harpe, Ryan de la Harpe, Eugene Jantjies, Theuns Kotze, Tertius Losper, Conrad Marais, David Philander, Llewellyn Winkler, Daniel van Wyk, McGrath van Wyk, Willem van Zyl.
Forwards: Jacques Burger (captain), Egbertus O'Callerghan, Nico Esterhuyse, Hendrik Franken, Hugo Horn, Uakazuvara Kazombiaze, Rohan Kitshoff, Heinze Koll, Raol Larson, Pieters van Lill, Jacques Nieuwenhuis, Reaud van Neel, Tinus du Plessis, Johannes Redelinghuys, Johannes du Toit, Marius Visser.
AFP