Africa Gold Cup (Saturday)
Tunisia vs. Namibia- 9pm
Namibia will start their Africa Gold Cup title defence with a duel with Tunisia in the coastal town of Monastir Saturday night.
Namibia, who lifted the cup last year, will still feature in the title conversation this year with Uganda and Kenya expected to be their biggest challengers.
For Tunisia, having been one of Africa’s top sides about a decade ago, it has been a slump in the last few years and this has seen their ranking drop to 49th in the world.
In recent years, Tunisia have been permanent residents in Africa’s second tier of rugby until gaining promotion to this year’s Africa Gold Cup.
However, with their pedigree in African rugby, that includes playing the final of the Africa qualifier for the World Cup, the North Africans cannot be taken for granted.
They also have a somewhat respectable history against Namibia having won three of the seven games played between the two sides.
The six-nation tournament kicked off last weekend with Zimbabwe beating Senegal 28-16 in Dakar, while Kenya and Uganda played to a thrilling 33-33 draw in Nairobi.
Namibia selected 24 players for Saturday’s encounter with numerous changes made to the side that competed at the Nations Cup in Uruguay, where Namibia came fourth out of six nations.
According to the Namibia Rugby Union, a total of 13 players were not available for the tour because of school, injuries or personal commitments.
These include established and experienced players like regular captain Renaldo Bothma; fly half and Namibia’s record points scorer, Theuns Kotze; forwards Torsten van Jaarsveld, Aranos Coetzee, Janco Venter and Tjiuee Uanivi; and backs Johan Deysel and JC Greyling.
The squad features only seven players who competed at the 2015 World Cup with selectors looking to groom a team for the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Rohan Kitshoff, who missed the Nations Cup, has been recalled and will captain the team from flank, while some of the other experienced players include the vice captain Eugene Jantjies, Darryl de la Harpe, David Philander, and Chrysander Botha.
After the Tunisia encounter, Namibia will play at home to Senegal and Kenya as well as away ties to Zimbabwe and Uganda.
After match day one, Zimbabwe lead the log with five points while Kenya and Uganda are joint second with 2 points apiece.
Namibia squad
Collen Smith, AJ de Klerk, Desiderius Sethie, Shaun du Preez, Orbert Nortje, Louis van der Westhuizen, Casper Viviers, Max Katjijeko, Mahepisa Tjeriko, Ruan Ludick, Thomasau Forbes, Wian Conradie, Rohan Kitshoff (captain), Christo van der Merwe, Eugene Jantjies (vice captain), Damian Stevens, Lesley Klim, Darryl de la Harpe, Justin Newman, Gino Wilson, Johann Tromp, Helarius Kisting, David Philander and Chrysander Botha.