Namibia's long slog to play France
The Namibian Invitation XV play France Under-18 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Friday night. The team, which is not quite Under-18, has done well in the tournament so far with South Africa U18, England U18 and France U18, despite a tightened budget.
Where the other three teams flew comfortably into East London for the first match, the Namibians travelled 24 hours by bus to get there.
Playing resources are fairly tight. For the France match they have exactly 23 players available after three injuries, one who went home and one who has been naughty.
Of the players Robert Herridge captain Nambia at the Junior World Trophy in 2008 and the present captain, Theo Coetzee, was also in the side. The two of them played in trials for the Namibian side at the Nations Cup in Buicharest this year, as did Ashwin Walters, Macho Prinsloo, Muino Kasiringua, Morne Blom, Lloyd Busch, Keaton Freygang and Charlton Brussel. None of them made the side which won the Nations Cup.
Irvin October, in his day a top fullback and a great rugby thinker has joined the side as a coach/adviser and will be with Namibia for the 2011 World Cup. He has the experience of being an assistant to Nick Mallett, Harry Viljoen and Jake White when they coached the Springboks. The coaches' first job was to establish structures for the team.
In their first match the Namibians lost 35-10 to the powerful England side, then 27-16 to South Africa.
France have lost both of their matches so far - to South Africa last Friday and then to England on Tuesday.
Friday's match will follow the Currie Cup match between the Eastern Province Kings and Griffons.
The teams:
Namibia Invitation XV: 15 Robert Herridge, 14 Quinton Fielding, 13 Heinrich Smit, 12 Ashwin Walters, 11 Russell van Wyk, 10 Macho Prinsloo (vice-captain), 9 Arthur Bouwer, 8 Maurice Richter, 7 Ngumeritiza Nguaiko, 6 Kirk Olivier, 5 Munivita Kasiringua, 4 Morne Blom, 3 Martin Goeieman, 2 Theo Coetzee (captain), 1 Lloyd Busch.
Replacements: 16 Eathan Cloete, 17 Franklin Bertolini, 18 Barend Janse van Rensburg, 19 Charl Freygang, 20 Richard Ockhuizen, 21 Charlton Brussel, 22 Lesley Clarke, 23 Mark Nangoro.
Coaches: Christo Alexander, Irvin October
French squad: Mathieu Barres, Léo Bastien, Freddy Cabantous, Steevy Cerqueira, Pascal Cotet, Jean-Baptiste Custoja, Alexandre Dardet, Eric Dos Santos, Bastien Duhalde, Kévin Etcheverry, Anthony Etrillard, Julien Farnoux, Joris Fusier, Mathieu Guillomot-Bonnefond, Romain Hollet, Valentin Insardi, l Jedrasiak, Gabriel Lacroix, Jonathan Laugel, Vincent Mallet, Julien Nibert, Alban Placines, Enzo Selponi, Marco Tauleigne, Christopher Tolofua, Loris Tolot, Alexis Valette, Clément Vernezoul, Florian Vialelle, Maxime Wieprecht.
Date: Friday, June 23
Kick-off: 19.00
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Referee: François Groenewald (South Africa)